
(lass L#3¥0 



i 



BUREAU OF EDUCATION 

CIRCULAR OF INFORMATION" NO. 2, 188s 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL HISTORY 

EDITED BY HERBERT B. ADAMS 



^STo. 3 



THE 



HISTORY OF EDUCATION 



NORTH CAROLINA 






CHARLES LEE SMITH 

FELLOW IN HISTORY AND POLITICS 
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1888 



i 5391 1 u ^ 

BUREAU OF EDUCATION 
CIRCULAR OF INFORMATION NO, % 1888 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL HISTORY 

EDITED BY HERBERT B. ADAMS 



fit. 

ISTo. 3 
THE 

HISTORY OF EDUCATION" 



NORTH CAROLINA 



BY 



CHARLES LEE SMITH 

u 
FELLOW IN HISTORY AND POLITICS 

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1888 



17037 -No, 2- 






"Here was a colony of men from virilized life, scattered among the forests, hermits ivith 
trivcs and children, resting on the bosom of nature, in perfect harmony with the wilderness 
of their gentle clime. With absolute freedom of conscience, benevolent reason was the simple 
rule of their conduct. * * * Arc there any who doubt man's capacity for self govern- 
ment, let them study the history of North Carolina; its inhabitants were restless and tur- 
bulent in their imperfect submission to a government imposed on them from abroad; the 
administration of the colony was firm, humane, and tranquil when they were left to take care 
of themselves. Any government but one of their own institution was oppressive." (George 
Bancroft. ) 

''Almost invariably, as soon as a neighborhood was settled, preparations were made for 
the preaching of the Gospel by a regular stated pastor, and wherever a pastor was located, 
in that congregation there was a classical school." (Foote's Sketches of North Carolina.) 

" The progress of society and civilization depends upon the education and virtue of the 
people." (Hon. Bartlett Yancey, in 1810.) 

"In an ardent and increasing zeal for the establishment of schools and academies for 
several years past, we do not believe North Carolina has been outdone by a single State. 
* The number at present is nearly fifty, and is rapidly increasing." (North 
American Review, January, 1821.) 

" We can diffuse the blessings of education and become a virtuous if not a great people. I 
wish the State University were located in Baleigh, for I do not believe in that kind of educa- 
tion which is obtained in cloisters. The manners of boys should be attended to as well as 
their morals. The society of the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, is said to have been the 
most polished in America, and its college, William and Mary, has turned out more celebrated 
men than any other institution within my knowledge." (Nathaniel Macon, in North Car- 
olina Constitutional Convention, 1835.) 

"The University does not lack the sanction either of the Constitution or of the people. 
Under the loving care of the people of the State, led by ivise master-builders, much more than 
from the liberality of the General Assembly, the University grew in the lapse of nearly a 
century to be a great institution, the nursing mother of the ingenuous youth of the State with- 
out distinction of party or sect. Embracing all her children in her great catholic heart, she 
has always striven to allay sectional feeling, to moderate sectarian heat, to cultivate and en- 
courage a broad, ardent love for the Stale, a veneration for her early history and traditions, 
an appreciation of the domestic virtues of her citizens, and a love of liberal learning." 
(Hon. John Manning, LL. D., professor of law, University of North Carolina.) 

"I remember in my young manhood the University of North Carolina was always spoken 
of with the greatest respect among men who knew anything about an American collegiate educa- 
tion. While the Universities of Virginia and Johns Hopkins have to some extent drawn 
attention away from it, I see no reason why its present Faculty should not give it a command- 
ing position in the south-east of our Republic" (Hon. Andrew D. White, Ex-President 
of Cornell University.) 

2 n, ftr"; 



CONTENTS. 



Page 
Letter of the Commissioner of Education to the Secretary of the 

Interior -. 9 

Chapter I.— Education during the Proprietary Government— 1663-1729. 

Introduction .. 13 

Educational beginnings — The first schools : 16 

Edenton Public Library 18 

Chapter II.— Education during the Provincial and State Governments 

before 1800. 

General survey 20 

First efforts for governmental aid 20 

First school legislation „ 21 

Scotch-Irish immigration — Marked educational advancement 22 

The influence of the College of New Jersey 23 

Early classical schools — Tate's Academy and Crowfield Academy 26 

Dr. David Caldwell's School — Its influence upon North Carolina and the South. 27 

David Caldwell — his life and his work 28 

Queen's College 32 

Rev. Henry Patillo's School 36 

Granville Hall * 36 

Clio's Nursery and the Academy of the Sciences 37 

Science Hall 38 

Zion Parnassus 38 

Other Presbyterian schools 39 

Appropriations for education 40 

Incorporated schools — Newbern Academy 40 

Edenton Academy . 42 

Innis Academy *. 42 

Martin Academy — now Washington College, Tennessee 43 

Morgan Academy 44 

Other incorporated institutions 44 

Lotteries for schools 45 

German immigration — The Moravians 46 

The Lutherans 47 

State of education in 1795 47 

Two accounts of the state of education and society before 1810— 

In Caswell County 48 

In Edgecombe County... 5,0 

3 



4 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

Chapter III.— The University of North Carolina. 

Page 

The Constitution and the University 52 

The University chartered 54 

A site chosen 54 

Location and buildings 55 

Endowment and income 58 

The land-scrip fund 60 

Plan of education 61 

Election of a Professor of Humanity 61 

Opening of the University 62 

First regulations, 1795 62 

The first professors 64 

An interesting letter 64 

First purchase of books and apparatus. 66 

The curriculum, 1796 66 

The first graduates 67 

The first president — Rev. Joseph Caldwell, D. D 68 

The curriculum during Caldwell's administration „ 71 

The influence of Yale — Mitchell, Olmsted, and Andaews 72 

The second president — Rev. Robert Hett Chapman, D. D 75 

The third president — David Lowry Swain, LL. D . _ . 75 

Requirements and courses during Swain's administration 78 

School for the Application of Science to the Arts 80 

Law School 81 

The Civil War _ 82 

A romance of the War „ 82 

Last years of Swain's administration 83 

Reconstruction 84 

The fourth president — Rev. Solomon Pool, D. D 85 

The re-opening 86 

The fifth president — Kemp Plummer Battle, LL. D 86 

Present requirements and courses . 87 

Equipment for teaching '. 91 

Scholarship and loan funds 91 

Present system of government 92 

Literary societies 92 

Greek letter fraternities 93 

Influence of the University upon the South 94 

Student attendance by States— 1795-1887. 97 

A tribute to the University 97 

Members of the Faculty— 1795-1887 98 

The Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 99 

Chapter IV. — Leading Denominational Colleges. 

WAKE FOREST COLLEGE. 

First prospects of the establishment of a Baptist college r 101 

Wake Forest Institute 102 

The charter 103 

Opening of the Institute * 103 

The manual labor system 103 

Charges and expenses 104 

Buildings and equipments ., - 104 



CONTENTS. O 

Page 

Wake Forest College 105 

Schools and degrees 107 

Literary societies 108 

Influence of the College . . 109 

DAVIDSON COLLEGE. 

Presbyterian influence - - 109 

Western College - 110 

Davidson College „ - 110 

Present status of the institution 112 

TRINITY COLLEGE. 

The beginnings and history of the institution - 113 

Chapter V.— The Higher Female Education. 

Female schools 117 

Salem Female Academy 118 

St. Mary's School .' ..... 120 

Greensborough Female College 120 

Chowan Baptist Female Institute ,. 121 

Thomasville Female College , 122 

Peace Institute 123 

Oxford Female Seminary 124 

General characteristics > 124 

Chapter VL— Secondary Instruction. 

General critical survey 128 

Graded schools 129 

Co-educational institutions 130 

Preparatory male schools — The Bingham School 131 

The Horner School, Oxford 133 

Other schools of merit — The Raleigh Male Academy and the Davis School 135 

ANTE-BELLUM MALE SCHOOLS. 

Caldwell Institute 137 

Hillsborough Military Academy.... 138 

The North Carolina Military Institute 138 

Rev. John Chavis, a distinguished colored educator 138 

Chapter VII.— Educational efforts of the Friends. 

First settlers _, 142 

Friends' boarding school 143 

Belvidere Academy 149 

Baltimore Friends ., 150 

The model farm p a 153 

Philadelphia Friends „. 154 

New York Friends „ 155 

Chapter VIII.— History and Status of Education among the Col- 
ored People. 

Paper prepared by S. G. Atkins. ; „ 157 

Chapter IX.— The Public Schools, 

Origin of the system..... .„... ..„.....». ... 164 

Provision for public schools «. „*.**» 166* 



6 HISTORY OP EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

Page 

Public schools established , 168 

Public schools since the War 170 

IVabodyFund 173 

Present public school system 173 

Normal instruction 174 . 

Federal aid „ 175 

Chapter X.— The North Carolina Teachers' Assembly. 

History and influence of the organization 177 

In Conclusion 179 

Aipendix. — List of the Principal Works Consulted . 180 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page 

University of North Carolina — Section of Library 52 

Old East Building r - 54 

Plan of Campus and Buildings 57 

South Building 62 

Old West Building 68 

Gerrard Hall 70 

Smith Hall— Library 74 

New East Building 80 

New West Building 82 

Biological Laboratory „ 88 

Philanthropic Society Hall - 92 

MemorialHall 94 

Wake Forest College— Bird's-Eye View 100 

Heck- Williams Building « 104 

Lea Building — Chemical Laboratory 108 

Davidson College — Main Building 110 

Trinity College 114 

Peace Institute „ 116 

St. Mary's School 120 

Chowan Baptist Female Institute 122 

Oxford Female Seminary 124 

Livingstone College — Main Building 156 

Men's Dormitory 158 

Women's Dormitory 158 

North Carolina Teachers' Assembly Building. .. 177 

7 



LETTER. 



Department of the Interior, 



Bureau of Education, 
Washington, D. C, December 9, 1887. 
Hlne Honorable the Secretary of the Interior, 

Washington, D. C. 

Sir : In pursuance of the plan already approved by you for a system- 
atic inquiry by the Bureau of Education into the educational history 
of the United States, I beg to recommend for publication the second 
of the series of State monographs in this direction edited by Dr. Her- 
bert B. Adams, whose studies upon the College of William and Mary, 
and Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia, with the mon- 
ograph upon the Study of History in American Colleges and Univer- 
sities, formed the introduction to this new line of inquiry. 

The subject of the present monograph is the history of education in 
North Carolina. It is an original and valuable contribution, and de- 
serves to be widely read. In this monograph Mr. Charles Lee Smith, 
who has been trained in historical methods at the Johns Hopkins Uni- 
versity and now holds a fellowship in history and politics at that in- 
stitution, gives the results of a thorough and careful study of the ed- 
ucational history of his native State. 

For North Carolina this is pioneer work. The history of education 
in that State has hitherto remained unwritten. That the Old North 
State has failed to receive just recognition at the hands of some his- 
torians is due in great measure to the fact that many important phases 
of her early history have remained undeveloped by her own sons, to 
whom they were known, and who have allowed the prejudiced state- 
ments of early chroniclers, ignorant of the facts, to be accepted with- 
out contradiction as authoritative. 

The writer has traced the genesis and development of education in 
North Carolina from the first settlement of that State to the present 
time. For this purpose he is the first to exploit the colonial records, 
the publication of which was begun last year, and the early laws of the 
State. He has also utilized early newspaper files, and all the pub- 
lished biographical and historical works relating to his State to be found 
in the public libraries of Ealeigh, Washington, and Baltimore, besides 
certain private collections and personal correspondence. 

In the study of education as a growth North Carolina affords peculiar 
advantages. The character of the early settlers, the objects of their 

9 



10 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

coming, and the results achieved by them in their struggle against op- 
pressive government give the history of that State unusual interest. 
Bancroft says, "North Carolina was settled by the freest of the free," 
and the records of the colony show that a constant warfare was waged 
against oppression until freedom was won. This fact was emphasized 
and is illustrated in the proceedings of that meeting of patriots at 
Mecklenburg in 1775, which, without doubt, is one of the most mem- 
orable events of our Eevolutionary period. This struggle was for civil 
and religious liberty, and Mr. Smith demonstrates how intimate was 
the connection between the liberties and the educational history of the 
people. The government is, perhaps, to be censured that schools were 
not earlier provided. It is an error, however, to suppose, as has been 
stated by some writers, that there were no good schools in the State 
previous to the Kevolution, for it is shown that there were many cred- 
itable institutions, several having a wide reputation. 

The higher education has been principally treated in this sketch, al- 
though the history of primary and secondary instruction has not been 
neglected. The influence of certain classes of immigration and of institu- 
tions outside the State, especially of Princeton, which previous to the 
establishment of the University of North Carolina was largely patronized 
by the young men of that State, is clearly shown. Many interesting facts 
concerning noted educators of the State are brought out. The sketch 
which is given of the University of North Carolina is the first full account 
of that institution which has ever been written. The writer thinks no 
institution of this country has a more honorable record, and it is claimed 
that in proportion to the number of its alumni it stands second to none 
in the number of the distinguished public men it has given to the State 
and nation. 

The account which is given of its "influence upon the South" makes 
an admirable showing. As indicative of its wide-spread influence upon 
the country, a President, a Vice-President, many Cabinet officers, min- 
isters to foreign countries, Senators, Governors, and other distinguished 
men are mentioned among its alumni. 

President Andrew D. White said of this institution: " I remember in 
my young manhood the University of North Carolina was always spoken 
of with the greatest respect among men who knew anything about an 
American collegiate education. While the Universities of Virginia and 
Johns Hopkins have to some extent drawn attention away from it, I see 
no reason why its present Faculty should not give it a commanding 
position in the South-east of our Republic." 

The subjects taught in the institutions for the secondary and the 
higher education are noted from time to time, thus showing the general 
educational development. The present status of education in North 
Carolina is well pictured. The work, while strictly historical, is both 
practical and suggestive. Hon. Henry Barnard, the first Commis- 
sioner of Education, once said that " no subject now interesting or im« 



LETTER OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION. 11 

portant can be adequately understood or further investigated unless 
proper pains be first bestowed upon its history. * * * There is no 
department of human exertion, however, in which this preliminary his- 
torical knowledge is so necessary as in education. For this there is 
both a general and a special reason. The education of a people bears a 
constant and most pre-eminently influential relation to its attainments 
and excellencies — physical, mental, and moral. The national education 
is at once a cause and an effect of the national character; and, accord- 
ingly, the history of education affords the only ready and perfect key 
to the history of the human race and of each nation in it— an unfailing 
standard for estimating its advance or retreat upon the line of human 
progress. 

u But the special reason just alluded to is yet more in point at this 
time. It is, that there is no department of human exertion whose 
annals are more brilliant with displays of industry, talent, and genius, 
whether successful or unsuccessful, and consequently none in which a 
reference to the past will afford such abundant materials for improve- 
ment in the present." 

Urging, therefore, the publication of this monograph and the encour- 
agement of this new line of educational inquiry to be continued by the 
Bureau of Education, not only in the South but in the North-west and 
South-west and beyond the Mississippi, where such inquiries are most 
needed, 

1 have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

K. H. E. DAWSON, 

Commissioner, 

Approved : 

L. Q. C. Lamar, 

Secretary. 



EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 



CHAPTER I. 

EDUCATION DURING THE PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT- 

1663-1729. 



INTRODUCTION. 



During the first sixty-five years of the colonial history of North Car- 
olina there were but few schools, and these were ill-attended. Com- 
pared with the New England colonies, a great difference is observed in 
the attention given to education during this period, and historians, with- 
out considering all the facts in the case, have reproached North Caro- 
lina with want of zeal in this direction. For this difference there are 
several causes. New England was peopled by colonies, and the estab- 
lishment of towns was coeval with the settlements. The people were 
forced by circumstances to live together, and this tended to strengthen 
the bonds of union between them and to unite them in all objects relat- 
ing to the common welfare. Then, too, the people of each community 
were generally of the same religious faith, and their preachers were at 
the same time the teachers of their schools. 

Let us now see how it was with North Carolina. This province was 
occupied by individual families, and although the first permanent set- 
tlement was made about 1660, there was no town until Bath was located 
in 1704. The population was chiefly confined to the territory north of 
Albemarle Sound, west of the Chowan River, and the territory between 
the two sounds, Albemarle and Currituck. The people were scattered 
sparsely here and there along the shores of the sounds and on the 
banks of the water-courses. Bancroft says : " Here was a colony of men 
from civilized life, scattered among the forests, hermits with wives and 
children, resting on the bosom of nature, in perfect harmony with the 
wilderness of their gentle clime. With absolute freedom of conscience, 
benevolent reason was the simple rule of their conduct." x 

As late as 1709 the Rev. William Gordon, writing to the secretary of 
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, referring 

1 Bancroft's United States (1843), Vol. II, p. 154. 

13 



14 ' HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

to the settlement on the Pamlico Eiver, has this to say of the only town 
in the province: "Here is no church, though they have begun to build 
a town called Bath. It consists of about twelve houses, being the only 
town in the whole province. They have a small collection of books 
for a library, which were carried over by the Kev. Dr. Bray, and some 
land is laid out for a glebe." x About this time Beaufort was laid out 
for a town, and a little later Newbern was settled by the Swiss. There 
were many differences in religious belief among the people, and secta- 
rian disputes often led to serious difficulties. " The population of the 
colony in 1703," says Martin, " was composed of individuals of different 
nations, and consequently of various sects: Scotch Presbyterians, Dutch 
Lutherans, French Calvinists, Irish Catholics, English Churchmen, 
Quakers, and Dissenters; emigrants from Bermuda and the West Indies, 
which, from their late settlements, could not be places remarkable for 
the education of young people in Christianity and morality." 2 

North Carolina's best known historian says : " Under these circum- 
stances, with families far removed from each other, with religious dis- 
putes flagrant, and indeed all the politics of the colony turning on re- 
ligious dissensions, it is easy to see why there was but little progress 
made in establishing schools." 3 We thus see from the very nature of 
things that the village schools of New England were an impossibility 
here. 

Schools were for a long time neglected, no provision for their main- 
tenance being made by the Government. But it must not be under- 
stood that the inhabitants were in dense ignorance and wholly devoid of 
educational facilities. We are told that " there were many highly edu- 
cated citizens scattered throughout the province, who lived with consid- 
erable style and refinement. Sturdy, honest, and hospitable agricultu- 
rists gathered around themselves elements of large future development, 
and their premises showed wealth, industry, and care." 4 Yet, notwith- 
standing this, it must be confessed that among the poorer classes there 
was a vast amount of ignorance. Wheeler says that there were not only 
men of learning, culture, and refinement in the colony, but also u men 
of means who contributed to found libraries, to erect churches, and to 
promote the welfare of the people. Moseley, Hyde, Swann, Porter, 
Lillington, Harvey, Sanderson, Pollock, Lowe, the son-in-law of Gov- 
ernor Archdale, and others too numerous to mention, were men who 
were not indifferent to education. If the facts could be unearthed, it 
would probably appear that there were many good schools in the 
province." 5 

Dr. Brickell, in his account of the Present State of North Carolina, 
written about 1730, after giving an account of the government, courts, 

1 North Carolina Colonial Records, Vol. 3 Wheeler's Reminiscences, p. 258. 

I, p. 717. 4 Vass's Eastern North Carolina, p. 21. 

2 Martin's North Carolina, Vol. I, p. 218. 6 Wheeler's Reminiscences, p. 259, 



EDUCATION DURING THE PROPKIETvlKY GOVERNMENT. 15 

and the speedy manner of securing justice, enumerates some of the laws, 
and adds: " These, and many other good laws that are to be met with 
in this province, make it one of the best and mildest governments to 
live under in all America." 1 

The inhabitants are characterized as " good economists, remarkably 
kind to strangers and those in distress." Such a people could not 
have constituted the lawless, irreligious, apathetic, and ignorant com- 
munity described by Mr. John Fiske in Harper's Magazine for Feb- 
ruary, 1883, in an article entitled " Maryland and the Far South in the 
Colonial Period," 2 and by Lodge in his History of the English Colonies 
in America. Professor Fiske, in the article referred to, shows an igno- 
rance of his subject which is inexcusable, and after other misrepresen- 
tations adds that, " Until just before the war for Independence there 
was not a single school, good or bad, in the whole colony. It need not 
be added that the people were densely ignorant." Lodge says : " There 
was scarcely any means of education, and no literature whatever. Print- 
ing was not introduced until 1764, 3 and at the time of the Ee volution 
there were only two schools, lately incorporated at ]S"ewbern and Eden- 
ton, in the whole province. An act of the year 1770, to endow Queen's 
College at Charlotte, was repealed by proclamation, and even after the 
war for Independence, with the exception of a feeble academy at Hills- 
borough, in all relating to education North Carolina was far behind 
the other States." In this connection he adds that " The people were 
very lawless, and averse to order and government, although they had a 
keen perception of their own rights, as is shown by the passage of an 
act to secure the habeas corpus as early as the year 1715. They fell 
in eagerly with the movement against England, etc. * * * But it is 
a strong proof of the vigor and soundness of the English race that this 
lawless, apathetic people finally raised themselves in the scale of civili- 
zation, and built up a strong and prosperous State." 4 

To see how a greater historian views this same period of the history 
of North Carolina it is only necessary to add the following quotation 
from Bancroft : "Are there any who doubt man's capacity for self-gov- 
ernment, let them study the history of North Carolina ; its inhabitants 
were restless and turbulent in their imperfect submission to a govern- 
ment imposed on them from abroad ; the administration of the colony 
was firm, humane, and tranquil when they were left to take care of them- 
selves. Any government but one of their own institution was oppres- 
sive." 5 

1 Brickell's North Carolina, p. 29. 

2 For reply to this article see the Introduction to Part III of Wheeler's Eeminiscences : 
" North Carolina in the Colonial Period," by Daniel R. Goodloe, to which the writer 
is indebted for valuable suggestions. 

3 The first printing press was brought to the province in 1749, and the laws were 
printed at Newbern in 1752. 

4 Lodge's English Colonies, p. 157. 

5 Bancroft's United States (1843), Vol. II, p. 158, 



1() HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

A careful reading of the following pages will prove conclusively that 
the above statements of Fiske and Lodge are not warranted by the 
facts, and that North Carolina in her educational as in her .Revolu- 
tionary history has reason to be proud of her record. 

EDUCATIONAL BEGINNINGS— THE FIRST SCHOOLS. 

In 1692 Dr. Compton, Bishop of London, determined to know more 
of the church in the colonies, and appointed Dr. Bray to be his com- 
missary in Maryland. Dr. Bray gave North Carolina her first public 
library, established at Bath. On receiving the report of Dr. Bray, 
Bishop Compton went to the King and obtained from him a bounty of 
twenty pounds to every minister who would go over to America ; but 
Carolina profited but little from this. 1 

The earliest account that we have of teachers in North Carolina is 
the report of Dr. John Blair, who came as a missionary to the colony in 
1704. He states that the settlers had built small churches in three pre- 
cincts, and had appointed a lay reader in each, who were supplied by 
him with sermons. 2 We know that these lay readers were school- 
masters, from the evidence of Dr. John Brickell, a naturalist of note 
who had travelled through the settlements in North Carolina in the 
early part of the eighteenth century, and published in Dublin, in 1737, 
the Natural History of North Carolina, with an Account of the Trade, 
Manners, and Customs of the Christian and Indian Inhabitants. He 
says : u The religion by law established is the Protestant, as it is 
professed in England, and though they seldom have orthodox clergy- 
men [he means those of the Church of England] among them, yet there 
are not only glebe lands laid out for that use commodious to each town, 
but likewise for building churches. The want of these Protestant clergy 
is generally supplied by some school-masters who read the Liturgy, and 
then a sermon out of Dr. Tillotson or some good practical divine every 
Sunday. These are the most numerous and are dispersed through the 
whole province.' 7 3 

About 1705 Mr. Charles Griffin came from some part of the West In- 
dies to Pasquotank, and opened a school which was patronized by all 
classes. Bev. William Gordon, who came from England as a missionary 
in 1708, in a letter to the secretary of the Society for the Propagation 
of the Gospel, written in 1709, alludes to the fact that the Quakers in 
Pasquotank were sending their children to the school of a lay reader 
of the church, named Griffin. 4 

Bev. Mr. Gordon established a church in Chowan Precinct, at the 
head of Albemarle Sound, in the settlement which afterwards became 

1 Hawks's North Carolina, Vol. XI, p. 338 ; North Carolina Colonial Records, Vol, 
I, p. 571 et seq. 

2 North Carolina Colonial Records, Vol. I, p. 601. 
3 Brickell's North Carolina, p. 35. 

4 North Carolina Colonial Records, Vol. I, p. 716, 



EDUCATION DURING THE PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT. 17 

Edenton. Eev. James Adams having settled in Pasquotank, the school 
, in that settlement was transferred to him, and Mr. Griffin, at the in- 
stance of Mr. Gordon, was elected lay-reader of the church and clerk of 
the Chowan vestry, and opened a school in that parish, text-books for 
the pupils being furnished by the rector, Mr. Gordon. 1 

In a letter to John Ohamberlaine, Esq., of the Society for the Propa- 
gation ot the Gospel, dated " Chowan, in North Carolina, July 25, 1712," 
the Rev. G. Rainsford, a missionary to the colony, says : "I had several 
conferences with one Thomas Hoyle, king of the Chowan Indians, who 
seems very inclinable to embrace Christianity and proposes to send his son 
to school to Sarum to have him taught to read and write by way of foun- 
dation in order to a farther proficiency for the reception of Christianity. 
I readily offeredmy service to instruct him myself, and having the oppor- 
tunity of sending him to Mr. Garratt's, where I lodge, being but three 
miles distance from his town. But he modestly declined it for the present 
till a general peace was concluded between the Indians and Christians. 
I found he had some notion of Noah's flood, which he came to the knowl- 
edge of and expressed himself after this manner, 'My father told me, I 
tell my son.' But I hope in a little time to give the society a better ac- 
count of him as well as of those peaceable Indians under his command. 
There's one Mr. Washburn who keeps a school at Sarum, on the fron- 
tiers of Virginia, between the two governments, and neighboring upon 
two Indian towns who, I find by him, highly deserve encouragement, 
and could heartily wish the society would take it into consideration and 
be pleased to allow him a salary for the good services he has done and 
may do for the future. What children he has under his care can both 
write and read very distinctly and gave before me such an account of 
the grounds and principles of the Christian religion that strangely sur- 
prised me to hear it. The man upon a small income would teach the 
Indian children gratis (whose parents are willing to send them could 
they but pay for their schooling) as he would those of our English fam- 
ilies had he but a fixed dependency for so doing, and what advantage 
would this be to private families in particular and the whole colony in 
general is easy to determine." 2 

The above account represents the state of education under the rule of 
the Lords Proprietors. It is probable that there were other schools, 
but certainly none of higher grade. We are told by the Rev. Francis 
L. Hawks, D. D., in his excellent history of this period, that among the 
higher classes many were educated in England. Governors, judges, 
councillors, lawyers, and clergy furnish evidence from their letters and 
other documents that there was no deficiency of education among the 
higher classes. Libraries at Bath and Edenton possessed many valua- 
ble books, showing that those who read them had cultivated minds. 
Gale, Little, Moseley, and Swann were fit associates for the most intelli- 

1 North Carolina Colonial Records, Vol. I, pp. 684, 714, 716. Ubid., p. 859. 
17037— No. 2 -2 



18 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

gent men in any of the English provinces of their day. In determining 
the boundary between North Carolina and Virginia, Swann and Moseley 
proved themselves better mathematicians than the members of the 
commission from Virginia. The only author in the colony during this 
period, so far as is known, was the Surveyor-General Lawson, who 
wrote a history of the colony, which was published after his death in 
1714. 1 

A careful examination of the records of the colony while under pro- 
prietary government shows only one instance in which help was af. 
forded to literature. This was an act 2 for the preservation of the 
library given by Dr. Bray, to which reference has been made. This act 
provided that a librarian should be appointed, that catalogues should 
be prepared, and that, under certain conditions, books might be taken 
from the library. It was provided that if the books were not returned 
within a specified time fines should be paid. No further thought seems 
to have been given by the Government for the promotion of education. 

EDENTON PUBLIC LIBRARY. 

As an evidence of the culture of some of the inhabitants, a catalogue 
of books presented to the public library at Eden ton about 1725 is 
given. Their character, and it is to be supposed that they were suited 
to the comprehension of at least a portion of the inhabitants, is an evi- 
dence of higher education. 

[From North Carolina Letter-Book of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel*] 

"A catalogue of books humbly presented by Edward Mosely, Esq., to 
the Honorable and most August Society for the Propagation of the Gos- 
pel in Foreign Parts, towards a Provincial Library to be kept in Eden- 
ton, the Metropolis of North Carolina." 



FOLIOS. 

Pool's Synopsis Criticorum, 5 vols. 

T. Augustine Opera, 10 vols., Col. Agrip,, 

1616. 
Tanti in quartour Libros Regurn, etc. 
Tanti in Jeremiam. 
Tanti in Ezechuelem. 
Tyntagma Theologia Christianas. 
Leigh's Body of Divinity. 
Deodati's Annotations on the Holy Bible. 
Ancient Histories of Eusebius, Socrates, 

and Evagrius. 
Jimson's History of the Church. 



QUARTOS. 

Answer to a Challenge made by a Jesuite. 

Buridani Questione in 8to. Libe Col. Aris- 
tolelis. 

Prideaux's Fascioulus Controv. Theologi- 
caruni. 

Cartwright's Harmonica Evangelica. 

Notations in Totain. Scrip. Sacram. 

History of the Church of Great Britain. 

Billson's True Difference between Chris- 
tian Subjection, etc. 

Ball's Answer to Canns's two Treatises. 

Brickluck's Protestant Evidence. 



1 Hawks's North Carolina, Vol. II, p. 370. 

2 Laws of North Carolina, Davis's Revisal (Newbern, 1752), p. 203. 

3 North Carolina Colonial Records, Vol. II, pp. 583, 584. The list has been copied as 
it appears in the records, though many mistakes may be noticed in the spelling of the 
names of titles and authors. 



EDUCATION DURING THE PROPRIETARY GOVERNMENT. 



19 



Rainoldi De. Rome : Ecclesia Iclolotatria. 

Pieres Sunier Impleaded. 

Henisy, Sac Exercitad. Novo Testamen- 

tum. 
Cartwright's Comment in Prov. Solo- 

monis. , 
Usher's Brittanicarum Eccles. Antiqui- 

tates. 
Ball's Friendly Trial of the grounds of 

Separation. 

OCTAVOS. 

Francisco Le Rees Cursus Philos., 2 parts. 
Tertia pars Sum Philos aud quarta. 
Piccolomincb Univeras Philos de Moribus. 
Da Parci Exercital Philosophicarum. 
Da Parci Systima Logica. 
Lensden's Clavis Greeca novo Testament!. 
Baronij Metaphysica Generalis. 
Dounams Comment Rami Dialect. 
Iah. Regio Comment ac dispiit sojicarum. 
Salij Ethica. 
Buxtoy's Lexicon. 

Dialogue in Answer to a Papish Cate- 
chism. 
Augustini de Civitate Dei, 2 vols. 



Greek Grammar. 

Itimedonci De Scripts Dei Verbo, etc. 
Itummis Comment in Evang — Secmat. 
Eustachio a Sancto Paulo Sum Philos. 

quadripsertitae. 
Scheiblus Libeo Comment Tapicorum. 
Schickard's Hist. Hebreum. 
Melanchoris Cronicon Curionis. 
Calvin's Institutio Christ. Religionis. 
Davidis Pares Corpus Doct. Christiana. 
Aristotle's Organon. 
Heckerman's Systima S. S. Theologia. 
Buxtoyi Epit. Grammat. Hebrae. 
Hyselbein's Thearia Logica. 
Amesius de Divina Predestinatione. 
Baronius Annales Ecclesiastico. 
Hugo Gertius Defensio fidei Catholicae. 
Augustini Confessionum. 
Amesij medulla Theologica. 
Amesij Rescript Scolastica ad pic Grevin- 

chorij. 
Amesij Tech no m atria. 
Wendelini Christianae Thedogia. 
Lactantij Divinarum Institutionem. 
Pch Cunai de Reb. Hebraorum. 
Hebrew Psalter. 



CHAPTER II. 

EDUCATION DURING THE PROVINCIAL AND STATE GOV- 
ERNMENTS BEFORE 1800. 



GENERAL SURVEY. 

At the date of the transfer of authority from the Lords Proprietors to 
the Crown the white population is estimated by Martin at about 13,000. 
During the first twenty years of royal rule the educational condition of 
the masses was but little changed. Throughout the colonial period it 
was the custom of gentlemen of means living in the country to main- 
tain tutors for their children. In the Cape Fear section it seems to have 
been the custom from 1740 to the Revolution to send the young men to 
Harvard to be educated. 1 It will be remembered that this section was 
the seat of the New England colony which came to North Carolina about 
1660. A writer in the Raleigh (N. C.) News and Observer says, " We 
remember to have heard that Mr. William Hill, the father of Hon. Wil- 
liam Hill, came from Boston to the Cape Fear to attend the wedding of 
one of his classmates." 

Wheeler says that the William Hill here referred to was graduated 
at Harvard in 1716, and came to North Carolina on account of his health, 
and settled at Brunswick, where he taught school. He became the 
ancestor of the distinguished Hill family on Cape Fear. His son, 
the Hon. William Hill, married a daughter of General John Ashe, and 
represented the Wilmington District in Congress from 1799 to 1803. 
The Hill and Ashe families were for many years patrons of Harvard. 
He adds, " It would seem that while the Cape Fear region largely pat- 
ronized Boston, the north-eastern section sent her sons to England, 
and the Presbyterians of the interior sought higher education at Prince- 
ton." 2 The early Governors of the province had little desire to promote 
popular education, and as a rale it was the people, and not the Govern- 
ment, who promoted it to the extent to which it was carried. It is a 
pleasure to note an exception to this general rule. 

FIRST EFFORTS FOR GOVERNMENTAL AID. 

It is said that "Gabriel Johnston, who was appointed Governor in 
1734, was the first who urged on the Assembly the importance of mak- 

1 Wheeler's Reminiscences, p. 257. -Hid., p. 258. 

20 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 1729-1800. 21 

ing some provision for schools. He was a native of Scotland and a lit- 
erary man. Having been educated in the University of St. Andrews 
an$ afterwards professor of Oriental languages in that institution, he 
knew the value of learning and wished to see it promoted ; but when 
appropriations were made for it, they were either wasted or taken to 
meet some other demands of the treasury." 1 

In 1736 Governor Johnston, in his address to the Legislature, said : 
" In all civilized Society s of men, it has always been looked upon as a 
matter of the greatest consequence to their Peace and happiness, to 
pollish the minds of young Persons with some degree of learning, and 
early to instill into them the Principles of virtue and religion, and that 
the Legislature has never yet taken the least care to erect one school 
which deserves the name, in this wide extended country, must in the 
judgment of all thinking men, be reckoned one of our greatest mis- 
fortunes. To what purpose, Gentlemen, is all your toil and labour, all 
your pains and endeavors for the advantage and enriching your fami- 
lies and Posterity, if within ourselves you cannot afford them such an 
education as may qualify them to be useful to their Country and to 
enjoy what you leave them with decency." He further asked them, 
among other things, to consider a country u where no care has been 
taken to inspire the youth with generous sentiments, worthy Principles, 
or the least tincture of literature," and then added, " lay your hands 
upon your hearts and consider how you can answer it to God and your 
own consciences, how you can answer it to your country or your Pos- 
terity, if you either neglect this opportunity of pursuing such valuable 
ends, or are diverted from it by the trifling arts of designing men." 2 

The General Assembly in their reply to the address of the Governor 
said: "We lament very much the want of Divine Publick worship (a 
crying scandal in any, but more especially in a Christian community) 
as well as the general neglect in point of education, the main sources 
of all disorders and corruptions, which we should rejoice to see removed 
and remedyed, and are ready to do our parts towards the reformation of 
such flagrant and prolifick evils." 3 Although so much was said about 
the encouragement of education and the establishing of schools, no pro- 
vision was made nor bill introduced looking to that end at this session 
of the Assembly. 

FIRST SCHOOL LEGISLATION. 

The first account we have of legislative enactment for the promotion 
of schools is to be found in the legislative journals of the General As- 
sembly held in Kewbern, April 8-20, 1745. On April 15th, " Mr. Craven 
brought in a Bill for an act to Impower the Commissioners for the town 

1 Caruthers's Life of Caldwell, p. 77. 

2 North Carolina Colonial Kecords, Vol. IV, pp< 227, 228. 

3 Ibid. t p. 231. 



09 



HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 



of Edentou to keep in repair the Town fence, & to erect and build a 
Pound Bridges Public Wherf & to erect and build a school bouse in the 
said Town and other purposes, which he read in his place." On A^ril 
19th this bill had passed its several readings, and was sent to the Coun- 
cil for approval, receiving the Governor's assent the following day. 1 

The first act establishing a free school by the Government was passed 
in 1749. 2 This would seem to discredit the statement made by various 
historians of the State that the first school of any kind established by 
the Government was at Newbern, in 1764. 

SCOTCH-IRISH IMMIGRATION— MARKED EDUCATIONAL ADVANCEMENT. 

There was no marked educational advancement manifested till the 
arrival of the Scotch-Irish, who began to settle in the State in large 
numbers about 1736 ; this immigration continued till 1776, the new com- 
ers bringing with them in a great measure the same spirit and the same 
principles that prompted the establishing of Icolumkill and Lindisfarne. 

The history of the introduction of this people into North Carolina is 
concisely stated by the Rev. J. Eumple, D. D., in the Home Maga- 
zine of March, 1881, as follows : a In June, 1736, Henry McCulloch, 
from the province of Ulster, Ireland, secured a grant from George II 
of 64,000 acres in the present county of Duplin, and introduced into it 
between three and four thousand emigrants from his native county. 
These were the Scotch-Irish descendants of the Scotch settlers whom 
James I had induced to move to Ireland and occupy the immense do- 
mains that escheated to the Crown after the conspiracy of the Earls of 
Tyrconnel and Tyrone in 1604. About the same time (1730-1740) the 
Scotch began to occupy the lower Cape Fear, and after the fatal battle 
of Culloden Moor, in 1746, great numbers of Highlanders implicated in 
the rebellion of 'Prince Charlie' emigrated to America, and occupied 
the counties of Bladen, Cumberland, Eobeson, Moore, .Richmond, Har- 
nett, and parts of Chatham and Anson. Thus it happened that the 
Scotch obtained the ascendency in the region of the upper Cape Fear, 
and have retained it till this day. 

"In the meantime thousands of Scotch-Irish from the province of 
Ulster, Ireland, laboring under disabilities in consequence of their re- 
ligion, began to seek homes in America. Most of them landed at Phil- 
adelphia and a few at Charleston. The northern stream first flowed 
westward to Lancaster County, Pa., and the Alleghany Mountains, 
and as the French and Indian War, about the time of Braddock's defeat 
(1755), rendered frontier life dangerous in Pennsylvania, multitudes 
changed their course and moved down parallel to the Blue Kidge 
through Virginia and North Carolina, till they met the other stream of 
their countrymen that was moving upward from Charleston along the 

1 North Carolina Colonial Records, Vol. IV, pp. 783, 788, 790. 2 Ibid., p. 977. 



1729-1800. 23 

banks of the Santee, Wateree, Broad, Pacolet, Ennoree, and Saluda 
Rivers. And this was the way the Scotch-Irish came into this region, 
beginning to arrive about 1736 and continuing to the opening of the 
Revolution in 1776, during forty years." 

From the arrival of these immigrants dates the impulse for the es- 
tablishment of schools throughout the State. It is to the Presbyterian 
Church that North Carolina owes the establishment of her first classi- 
cal schools, and during the second half of the eighteenth century the 
history of education in this State is inseparably connected with that of 
this denomination. Rev. Dr. Rumple, in writing of this period, says: 
"And so the Presbyterian Church of this age has regarded it as indis- 
pensable to her welfare to maintain schools where her sons should learn 
to read the Latin tongue, the language of western Christianity, and 
the Greek, in which the New Testament was written, as well as the 
mathematics and the liberal sciences — the ' Trivium ' and the i Quad- 



rivium. 



•>r> 



About 1745 the New York and Pennsylvania Synods of the Presby- 
terian Church began to send missionaries to North Carolina. Numer- 
ous churches were established, and in nearly every instance a school 
was planted by the church. "Almost invariably," says Foote, "as 
soon as a neighborhood was settled, preparations were made for the 
preaching of the Gospel by a regular stated pastor, and wherever a 
pastor was located, in that congregation there was a classical school, — 
as in Sugar Creek, Poplar Tent, Centre, Bethany, Buffalo, Thyatira, 
Grove [Duplin County], Wilmington, and the churches occupied by Pa- 
tillo in Orange and Granville [Counties]. 7 ' l 

THE INFLUENCE OF THE COLLEG-E OF NEW JEKSEY. 

In North Carolina, as in several other States, the higher education 
owes its first impulse to the Presbyterian Church and Princeton Col- 
lege. 

Presbyterian missionaries, graduates of Princeton, sent to this State 
in the first half of the eighteenth century by the Pennsylvania and 
New York Synods, gathered the scattered families of their faith into 
churches, and by the side of the church was planted a classical school. 

For more than half a century Princeton influence was predominant 
in North Carolina. Many of the leading divines, teachers, and politi- 
cians were alumni of that institution, as is demonstrated by the follow- 
ing list of native and adopted sons of the State who were graduated by 
that institution in the eighteenth century. The first of these to make his 
home in North Carolina was the Rev. Hugh McAden, class of 1753, a 
native of Pennsylvania, who came as a missionary in 1755. His biogra- 
pher says he was one of the chief founders of the Presbyterian Church 
in the Southern States. 

1 Foote's Sketches of North Carolina, p. 513. 



24 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

One of the most prominent public men of this period was Alexander 
Martin, class of 1756, whose father came from New Jersey to this State. 
He was a colonel in the Eevolutionary War. In 1782, and again in 1789, 
he was elected Governor of the State. From 1793 to 1799 he was in 
the United States Senate. His alma mater conferred the degree of 
LL. D. upon him in 1793. 

Among the ablest of those who came from New Jersey was the Eev. 
Alexander McWhorter, class of 1757, who organized several churches 
and rendered valuable service to the cause of education. In later life 
he returned to his native State. 

In 1777 Samuel Spencer, class of 1759, a native North Carolinian, 
was elected one of the judges of the superior court at the first election 
under the Constitution. 

The services of Joseph Alexander, class of 1760, and Eev. David 
Caldwell, class of 1761, as pioneer promoters of education in the State, 
are referred to in the sketches of Queen's College and Caldwell's School. 

The Eev. John Close, class of 1763, is remembered as an earnest pro- 
moter of religion and education. 

A well-known name in the history of the State is that of Waightstili 
Avery, class of 1766, a native of Connecticut. In 1769 he began the 
practice of law in Charlotte, where he did much to advance the cause 
of education and literature. He was the first attorney-general of the 
State, being elected to that position in 1777. 

Ephraim Brevard, class of 1 768, was a leading spirit of the Eevolu- 
tion, and one of the signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. 

The class of 1768 had two representatives from North Carolina — Adlai 
Osborne and Thomas Eeese. The former was one of the original trus- 
tees of the State University and a man of wide influence. The latter 
won distinction in another State. 

Isaac Alexander, class of 1772, was at one time president of Liberty 
Hall Academy. The Alexander family has furnished several noted 
educators to the State, and has at this time a representative in the 
Faculty of the University. 

The Eev. James Templeton, class of 1772, labored for several years in 
this State. 

A native Carolinian, Andrew King, class of 1773, after graduating, 
made his home in New York, where he became prominent. 

North Carolina is interested in four members of the class of 1774 — the 
Eev. Stephen Bloomer Balch, a native of Maryland, who came to this 
State in early life ; Eev. James Hall, a Pennsylvanian, an account of 
whom is given in the sketch of Clio's Nursery; David Witherspoou, a 
son of President Witherspoon, of Princeton, who became prominent as 
a member of the bar in Newbern ; and John Ewing Calhoun, who en- 
tered college from North Carolina, but afterwards won distinction in 
South Carolina. 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 1729-1800. 25 

The Rev. Thomas B. Craighead, class of 1775, was a native of North 
Carolina, but about 1781 he made Tennessee his home. He was one of 
the founders of Davidson Academy, which afterwards became Nash- 
ville University, and was its first president. 

In 1790 Spruce McCay, class of 1775, was appointed a judge of the 
superior court. The Rev. James McRee, D. D., of the same class, was 
an earnest friend of education and did much for its promotion. 

The class of 1776 gave two Governors to the State, — Nathaniel Alex- 
ander and William Richardson Davie. The latter was a native of Eng- 
land. He was a prominent soldier of the Revolution, and a member of 
the convention that framed the Constitution of the United States, 
though his absence at the time it was signed prevented his name being 
affixed to it. In 1799 he was elected Governor, and soon after that was 
appointed by the President envoy from this country to France. In 
the sketch of the University, reference is made to his efforts in behalf 
of education. 

Edward Graham, class of 1786, was a successful lawyer. 

Evan Alexander, class of 1787, was a member of the State Legislature 
from 1797 to 1803, and of Congress from 1805 to 1809. 

For twenty -five years David Stone, class of 1788, was prominent in 
the political affairs of the State. He was an able champion of the 
University, and was at different times a member of the Legislature, judge 
of the supreme court, Governor, member of Congress, and United States 
Senator. 

The Rev. Thomas Pitt Irving, class of 1789, was principal of the New- 
bern Academy from 1790 to 1812. He was an Episcopal clergyman, and 
was regarded as one of the best Greek scholars of his day. 

Sketches of Robert Hett Chapman, class of 1789, and Joseph Cald- 
well, class of 1791, early presidents of the University, are given in the 
history of that institution. 

In the class of 1792 were graduated John McKnitt Alexander, M. D., 
one of the signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, and 
Charles Wilson Harris, one of the first professors of the University. 

One of North Carolina's most distinguished sons, William Gaston, 
was graduated in 1796. He represented his district in Congress from 
1813 to 1817. Daniel Webster, when asked u Who was the greatest of 
the great men of the ' War Congress V " is said to have replied, " The 
greatest man was William Gaston." In 1834 he was elected one of the 
judges of the supreme court of North Carolina, which position he held 
till his death, in 1841. The opinions which he rendered while on the 
bench " are not only monuments of legal learning, but models of ele- 
gant literature." The degree of doctor of laws was conferred on him 
by the University of Pennsylvania, 1819 ; Harvard, 1826 ; University 
of New York, 1834 ; and Princeton, 1835. 

Frederick Beasley, class of 1797, was a distinguished Episcopal cler- 
gyman, and was at one time provost of the University of Pennsylvania. 



2€ HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

James AT. Clark, of the same class, was prominent in State politics. 
In 1815 he was elected a member of Congress, and in 1828 was appointed 
chief clerk in the Navy Department. 

The last North Carolinian to graduate at Princeton in the eighteenth 
century was Frederick Nash, class of 1799, who became a distinguished 
lawyer and chief -justice of the supreme court of the State. Promi- 
nent among those who studied at Princeton but did not graduate was 
Nathaniel Macon, member of the National Congress from 1791 to 1828, 
and several times speaker of the House and president pro tern, of the 
Senate. Many Carolinians of note have studied there during the pres- 
ent century, but since the establishment of Davidson College by the 
Presbyterians the student attendance from this State to that institu- 
tion has almost ceased. 

The first two presidents of the University were graduates of Prince- 
ton, and as far as practicable they copied the curriculum of their alma 
mater. The first president of Davidson College was graduated at the 
University during the Caldwell administration, so it is evident that 
early collegiate education in North Carolina was greatly influenced by the 
College of New Jersey. 

EARLY CLASSICAL SCHOOLS — TATE'S ACADEMY AND CROWFIELD 

ACADEMY. 

The Eev. James Tate, a Presbyterian minister from Ireland, was among 
the first to establish a classical school in the State. Foote says that he 
established his school in the city of Wilmington about 17G0. 1 At that 
time this place could have had but a few hundred inhabitants. This 
school was maintained by Mr. Tate for about eighteen years, but so 
pronounced and violent were his Whig principles, that the proximity of 
British power rendered it unsafe for him, so he removed into the inte- 
rior, making Hawfields, in Orange County, his home. 

In 1760 Crowfield Academy was opened in Mecklenburg County, in the 
bounds of Centre Presbyterian Church congregation, about two miles 
from where Davidson College now stands, of which institution this 
school may be considered the germ, and on that account is worthy of 
note. Many of the leading spirits of the Eevolution, the Davidsons, 
Osbornes, and others, got part of their classical training in this acad- 
emy. 2 Mr. Leazar, in a recent address at Davidson College, said that this 
was the first classical school in the State, and that it was conducted by 
some of the most learned men of the time, — "the Eev. David Kerr, 
graduate of the University of Dublin, and afterwards professor in the 
University of North Carolina ; Dr. Charles Caldwell, later a distin- 
guished professor in a medical school in Philadelphia, and others of like 
character.' 7 Among those who studied here he mentions "Dr. McKee. 
the scholarly divine ; Dr. James Hall, the learned and military parson ; 
Dr. Samuel E. McCorkle, one of the foremost educators of his genera- 

1 Foote's Sketches of North Carolina, p, 178. 

2 Eumple's Rowan County, pp. 84-85. 



27 

tion 5 Col. Adlai Osborne, the wise counsellor and able defender of the 
people's rights 5 Dr. Ephraim Brevard, author of the Mecklenburg 
Declaration of Independence ; and, probably, Hugh Lawson White, the 
most distinguished citizen of our daughter, Tennessee, during the first 
part of this century." Some young men from the West Indies studied 
at this school. 

DR. DAVID CALDWELL'S SCHOOL— ITS INFLUENCE UPON NORTH CARO- 
LINA AND THE SOUTH. 

The most illustrious name in the educational history of North Caro- 
lina is that of the Rev. David Caldwell, D. D. For many years "his log 
cabin served for North Carolina as an academy, a college, and a theo- 
logical seminary." x An able Presbvterian divine, the Rev. E. B. Cur- 
rie, says that " Dr. Caldwell as a teacher, was probably more useful 
to the church than any one man' in the United States." In 1766 or '67 
Dr. Caldwell established his classical school in Guilford County, at 
that time the north-eastern part of Rowan County, about three miles 
from where Greensborough now stands. 2 It soon becaine one of the 
most noted schools of the South, and we are told that to have passed 
through the course of study given here, with the approbation of the 
teacher, was a sufficient recommendation for scholarship in any section 
of the South. 

Dr. Caldwell was a full graduate of Princeton, and such was his rep- 
utation as an instructor and disciplinarian, that in his school were stu- 
dents from all of the States south of the Potomac. It is claimed that 
he was instrumental in bringing more men into the learned professions 
than any other man of his day, certainly in the Southern States. 
While many of his students continued their studies at Princeton, and 
at the University of North Carolina after the establishment of that 
institution, the larger number, and several of those who became the 
most distinguished in after-life, never went anywhere else for instruc- 
tion, nor enjoyed other advantages for higher education than those 
afforded at his school. His biographer says : u Five of his scholars 
became Governors of different States ; many more members of Con- 
gress, some of whom occupied a high standing, and still (1842) occupy 
it; and a much greater number became lawyers, judges, physicians, 
and ministers of the gospel. It would be a credit to any man to have 
been the instructor of such men as Judge Murphey, Judge McCoy, and 
many others who, in the same road to honor and usefulness, fell very 
little, if any, behind them ; and to one who knew the value and im- 
portance of religion as he did, it must have been a matter of very 
pleasant reflection that he had been instrumental in bringing into the 
gospel ministry such men as the Rev. Samuel E. McCorkle, D. D., and 
the Rev. John Anderson, D. D., who died a few years since in Wash- 

iThe early classical schools of the Presbyterian Church in North Carolina, Vir- 
ginia, and New Jersey were called " log colleges." 
3 Rumple's Rowan County, p. 84. 



28 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

ington County, Pa., and many others who were burning and shining 
lights in the world." x 

DAVID CALDWELL— HIS LIFE AND HIS WORK. 

Dr. CaldwelPs life presents many valuable lessons, and a short sketch 
of this patriot and scholar can but prove interesting. David Cald- 
well, the son of a sturdy Scotch-Irish farmer, was born in Lancaster 
County, Pa., March 22, 1725. In early youth, after receiving the rudi- 
ments of an English education, he was apprenticed to a carpenter, and 
until his twenty-sixth year he worked at the bench. He then decided to 
enter the ministry, and his first steps were to obtain a classical education. 
For some time he studied in eastern Pennsylvania at the school of 
Eev. Robert Smith, the father of John B. Smith, so favorably known in 
Virginia as president of Hampden- Sidney College, and of the Rev. 
Samuel Stanhope Smith, D. D., at one time president of Princeton Col- 
lege. 2 Before entering college he taught school for one or more years. 

It is not certainly known what year he entered Princeton, though he 
was graduated in 1761. At the time he became a student the require- 
ments for admission were as follows : " Candidates for admission into 
the lowest or Freshman class must be capable of composing grammati- 
cal Latin, translating Yirgil, Cicero's Orations, and the four Evangel- 
ists in Greek ; and by a late order (made in Mr. Davies's administra- 
tion) must understand the principal rules of vulgar arithmetic. Candi- 
dates for any of the higher classes are not only previously examined, 
but recite a fortnight upon trial, in that particular class for which they 
offer themselves ; and are then fixed in that, or a lower, as they happen 
to be judged qualified. But, unless in very singular and extraordinary 
cases, none are received after the Junior year. 773 

His assiduity as a student may be gathered from the following inci- 
dent related by Dr. Caruthers : u An elderly gentleman of good stand- 
ing in one of his (Caldwell's) congregations stated to me a few weeks 
since that when he was a young man Dr. Caldwell was spending a 
night at his father's one summer about harvest, and while they were 
all sitting out in the open porch after supper, a remark was after some 
time made about the impropriety of sitting so long in the night air, when 
he (Dr. Caldwell) observed that, so far as his own experience had gone, 
there was nothing unwholesome in the night air ; for while he was in 
college, he usually studied in it and slept in it, during the warm weather, 
as it was his practice to study at a table by the window, with the sash 
raised, until a late hour, then cross his arms on the table, lay his head on 
them, and sleep in that position till morning. This was not very far be- 
hind the most inveterate students of the seventeenth century, whether 
in Europe or America, and a man who had strength of constitution to 

1 Caruthers's Caldwell, p. 31. 

3 Footed Sketches of North Carolina, p. 232. 

3 Maclean's History of the College of New Jersey, Vol. I, p. 272. 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 1729-1800. 29 

pursue such a course of application, though of moderate abilities, could 
hardly fail to become a scholar." 1 

The character of the instruction given at Princeton is shown by the 
following extract from an account of the college by President Finley, pub- 
lished in 1764 ; and as Dr. Caldwell was graduated in 1761, it is to be sup- 
posed that the courses are substantially the same as while he was a stu- 
dent. After taking his degree in 1761 he taught for a year at Cape May, 
when he again returned and took a graduate course and at the same time 
acted as tutor in languages, so it is certain that he had the system of in- 
struction as it was under Dr. Fiuley's administration. In his account of 
the courses and methods President Finley says : a As to the branches of 
literature taught here, they are the same with those which are made parts 
of education in the European colleges, save only such as may be occa- 
sioned by the infancy of this institution. The students are divided into 
four distinct classes, which are called the Freshman, the Sophomore, the 
Junior, and the Senior. In each of these they continue one year, giving 
and receiving in their turns those tokens of respect and subjection which 
belong to their standings, in order to preserve a due subordination. The 
Freshman year is spent in Latin and Greek languages, particularly in 
reading Horace, Cicero's Orations, the Greek Testament, Lucian's Dia- 
logues, and Xenophon's Cyropedia. In the Sophomore year they still 
prosecute the study of the languages, particularly Homer, Longinus, 
etc., and enter upon the sciences, geography, rhetoric, logic, and the 
mathematics. They continue their mathematical studies throughout 
the Junior year, and also pass through a course of natural and moral 
philosophy, metaphysics, chronology, etc; and the greater number, es- 
pecially such as are educating for the service of the church, are initiated 
into the Hebrew. * * * The Senior year is entirely employed in 
reviews and composition. They now revise the most improving parts 
of Latin and Greek classics, part of the Hebrew Bible, and all the arts 
and sciences. The weekly course of disputation is continued, which was 
also carried on through the preceding year. They discuss two or three 
theses iu a week; some in the syllogistic and others in the forensic man- 
ner, alternately, the forensic being always performed in the English 
tongue." Besides the above there were public disputations on Sundays 
on theological questions, and once each month the Seniors delivered 
original orations before a public audience. Members of the Senior and 
lower classes were also required from time to time to declaim. 2 

Such was the course of instruction taken by Dr. Caldwell, and such 
the educational system which prevailed in the first institutions for higher 
education established in North Carolina. 

At a meeting of the Presbytery held at Princeton in September, 1762, 
David Caldwell was received as a candidate for the ministry. He was 
licensed to preach in 1763. In 1764 he labored as a missionary in North 

1 Caruthers's Caldwell, p. 20. 

2 Maclean's History of the College of New Jersey, Vol. I, p. 266. 



30 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

Carolina, returning to New r Jersey in 1765, being ordained to the full 
work of the ministry at the Presbytery held at Trenton in July of that 
year. He immediately returned to North Carolina, where he labored as 
missionary, until on March 3, 1768, he was installed as pastor of the 
Buffalo and Alamance congregations. 

At this time there were but few Presbyterian ministers in North 
Carolina, and Dr. Caldwell was one of the very first to make the 
State his permanent home. His history is more identified with the 
moral and educational history of North Carolina than is that of any other 
one man of the eighteenth century. In 1766 he married the daughter 
of the Kev. Alexander Craighead, and as the salary from his churches 
was not sufficient for the support of a family, it became necessary for 
him to supplement it by teaching a school. At this time schools for 
primary education existed in various parts of the colony, but to him is 
due the honor of having established the first institution for the higher 
education that achieved more than local fame. Mention has already 
been made of the reputation which this school acquired. The average at- 
tendance of students was from fifty to sixty, which was a large number 
for the time and the circumstances of the country. The exercises of 
the school were not interrupted by the war till 1781, at that time nearly 
all his students having taken service in the American Army. The ex- 
ercises of the school were resumed as soon as circumstances permitted, 
u though the number of students was small until peace, and with it in- 
cipient prosperity, were restored to the country." Dr. Caldwell con- 
tinued his labors as a teacher till about 1722, when he was forced by the 
infirmities of age to retire from active work. 

Judge Archibald D. Murphey, in an address before the literary so- 
cieties of the University of North Carolina in 1827, referring to the facil- 
ities for higher education before the opening of the State University in 
1795, has this to say about the Caldwell school : " The most prominent 
and useful of these schools was kept by Dr. David Caldwell, of Guilford 
County. He instituted it shortly after the close of the War, and con- 
tinued it for more than thirty years. The usefulness- of Dr. Caldwell 
to the literature of North Carolina will never be sufficiently appreci- 
ated, but the opportunities for instruction in his school were very lim- 
ited. There was no library attached to it; his students were supplied 
with a few of the Greek and Latin classics, Euclid's Elements of 
Mathematics, and Martin's Natural Philosophy. Moral philosophy was 
taught from a syllabus of lectures delivered by Dr. Witherspoon, in 
Princeton College. The students had no books on history or miscella- 
neous literature. There were indeed very few in the State, except in 
the libraries of lawyers who lived in the commercial towns. 1 well re- 
member that after completing my course of studies under Dr. Caldwell 
I spent nearly two years without finding any books to read, except 
some old works on theological subjects. At length I accidentally met 
with Yoltaire's History of Charles XII, of Sweden, an odd volume of 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 1729-1800. 31 

Smollett's Eoderick Random, and an abridgment of Don Quixote. 
These books gave me a taste for reading, which I had no opportunity 
of gratifying until I became a student in this University in the year 
1796. Few of Dr. Caldwell's students had better opportunities of get- 
ting books than myself; and with these slender opportunities of in- 
struction it is not surprising that so few became eminent in the liberal 
professions. At this day [1827], when libraries are established in all 
our towns, when every professional man and every respectable gentle- 
man has a collection of books, it is difficult to conceive the inconven- 
iences under which young men labored thirty or forty years ago." 

The Eev. Dr. Caruthers says : U But the most important service he 
(Dr. Caldwell) rendered as a teacher was to the church or to the cause 
of religion, for nearly all the young men who came into the ministry of 
the Presbyterian Church for many years, not only in North Carolina 
but in the States south and west of it, were trained in his school, many 
of whom are still living (1842) ; and while some are superannuated, 
others are still useful men, either as preachers or as teachers in different 
institutions of learning.' 71 

It is said that his mode of discipline was peculiar to himself, and while 
it did not admit of imitation, yet it was so successful that it could not 
be surpassed. His students were bound to him with bonds of affection, 
and an approving word from their u Dominie " was eagerly sought for. 
If the course of instruction at his school was not very extended it was 
thorough, as is testified by those who were prepared by him for future 
usefulness. Governor John M. Morehead, one of North Carolina's most 
distinguished sons, who studied under Dr. Caldwell and was prepared 
by him for the Junior class half advanced in the University of North 
Carolina, gave him the highest praise as a teacher, though at the time 
he was under his instruction Dr. Caldwell was between eighty-five 
and ninety years old. 

Dr. Caldwell's services to his country in the hour that "tried men's 
souls " deserve to be mentioned here. He had his full share of the 
troubles of the times. It was the delight of both the Tories and the 
British to persecute him. He was driven from his home, and to keep 
from falling into the hands of his enemies was forced to spend many 
nights in the forest. His library and the many valuable papers which 
he had prepared were destroyed with great wantonness. An effort was 
made to seduce him with British gold, but neither money nor persecu- 
tion could shake his loyalty to the cause he had espoused. 

Alexander says : " The first bloodshed of the Eevolution was not at 
Lexington, but on the Alamance, in North Carolina, May 16, 1771, in an 
engagement between Governor Tryon's troops and the Eegulators, as 
they were .called. These Eegulators were not adventurers, but the 
sturdy, patriotic members of three Presbyterian congregations, all of 
them having as their pastors graduates of Princeton. Mr. Caldwell was 

1 Caruthers's Caldwell, p. 36. 



32 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

one of tliem, and on the morning of the battle was on the ground, going 
from one side to the other, endeavoring to prevent the catastrophe." 1 

Dr. Caldwell was a member of the State convention of 1776, which 
drew up the u Bill of Rights" and framed the Constitution. He was also 
a member of the convention to consider the Constitution of the United 
States in 1778, where he took a decided stand as an advocate of States' 
rights ; but in the party conflicts preceding the second war with Great 
Britain he was on the side of the Federalists. 

Such was the esteem in which he was held by his State, and such his 
reputation for scholarship, that on the establishment of the State Uni- 
versity the presidency was tendered him. On account of his years the 
honor was declined. In 1810 this institution conferred on him the hon- 
orary degree of doctor of divinity. 

This great and good man died August 25, 1824. It is a fit testimonial 
of his many virtues that " time-worn veterans in the service of their 
country, men who have stood firm against the intrigues of ambition and 
the assaults of power, men who have fought the battles of freedom and 
maintained the rights of the people in the halls of our National Legisla- 
ture, year after year, until they have grown gray in the service, have 
been known to shed tears at the mention of his name when passing in 
public conveyance by the place where his remains lie buried, and by the 
church in which he preached and they were hearers from Sabbath to 
Sabbath, while preparing under his instruction for future distinction 
and usefulness in the world." 2 

QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 

The most celebrated institution for higher education in North Caro- 
lina during the colonial period was Queen's College, also known as 
Queen's Museum, located at Charlotte, and its history is interesting to 
the friends of literature as a bold and vigorous effort made for its pro- 
motion under the most discouraging circumstances. 

The beginnings of this institution are found in the classical school 
established in 1767, by the Eev. Joseph Alexander, 3 a graduate of 
Princeton of the class of 1760, and a Mr. Benedict, at the Sugar Creek 
Presbyterian church, near Charlotte. 4 The community in which this 
school was located was noted for its intelligence. The school flour- 
ished, and to meet the demands of a growing and prosperous commu- 
nity it was decided to enlarge its scope. Queen's College became the 
successor of Alexander's school. An act entitled "An act for founding, 

Alexander's Princeton College during the Eighteenth Century, p. 70. 

2 Caruthers's Caldwell, p. 36. 

3 After a few years Dr. Alexander removed to South Carolina, where he was as 
active in the cause of education as he had been in his native State. In 1797 the 
South Carolina Legislature bestowed a charter upon Alexandria College, named in 
his honor. 

4 Foote's Sketches of North Carolina, pp. 194, 513. 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 1729-1800. 33 

establishing, and endowing of Queen's College, in the town of Charlotte, 
in Mecklenburg County,' 7 was passed by the Assembly which met in 
Newbern on December 5, 1770. 1 It was twice chartered by the Legis- 
lature, and twice repealed by royal proclamation. It has l^een truly 
said that u No compliments to his Queen could render Whigs in politics 
and Presbyterians in religion acceptable to George III. A college un- 
der such auspices was too well calculated to insure the growth of the 
numerous democracy." The royal Government, as a rule, favored no 
institutions not under the control of the Church of England. To this 
the Presbyterians of this section would not assent. It is said that the 
notorious Col. David Fanning offered to secure a charter with himself 
as chancellor and the Rev. Joseph Alexander as head teacher. But" 
the people of Mecklenburg, whose capital city, Charlotte, was termed 
by Lord Cornwallis the " hornet's nest of the Revolution," were as much 
opposed to such a chancellor as was the King to an institution that 
would not receive his minions. But, notwithstanding royal disfavor, 
Queen's College continued to flourish. Dr. Caruthers, referring to the 
people of Mecklenburg, says : " Man might as well attempt to lay his 
interdict upon the coming forth of vegetation, when the powers of 
nature are warmed and refreshed by genial influences from above, as to 
arrest the progress of such a people in knowledge and improvement." 2 

We are told by Vass that " the King's fears that the college would 
become the fountain of republicanism were, perhaps, quickened into 
reality by his repeated rejection of the charter, for Queen's Museum 
became the rallying point for literary societies and political clubs pre- 
ceding the Revolution ; and in its hails were held the significant and 
decisive debates preceding the adoption of the Mecklenburg Declara- 
tion of Independence," on May 20, 1775. 3 

It is probable that the name of the institution was changed from 
Queen's College to Liberty Hall Academy in 17 75. 4 It is not probable 
that the trustees cared to have a royal name upon an institution to which 
the British authority had refused a charter. The coveted charter came 
at last, but it was under the blessing of liberty, and was conferred by 
the Legislature of North Carolina as the representatives of the sovereign 
authority of a free and independent State. On May 9, 1777, the first 
year of American independence, an act was passed incorporating Isaac 
Alexander, president, Col. Thomas Polk, Col. Thomas Neal, Abraham 
Alexander, Waightstill Avery, Adlai Osborne, John McKnitt Alexan- 
der, Dr. Ephraim Brevard, Rev. David Caldwell, Rev. James Hall, Rev. 
James Edmonds, Rev. John Simpson, Rev. Thomas Reese, Samuel Mc- 
Corkle, and Rev. Thomas H. McCaule, as president and trustees of Lib- 
erty Hall Academy. Ail the trustees were Presbyterians, and the school 

'•Davis's Second Revisal of Laws of North Carolina (Newbern, 1773). 

2 Caruthers's Caldwell, p. 193. 

3 Vass's Eastern North Carolina, p, 46 j see also Foote's Sketches of North Carolina, 
p. 514. 

4 Wheeler's Reminiscences, p. 230. 

17037— No. 2 -3 



34 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NOETH CAROLINA. 

was under the supervision of Orange Presbytery, at that time covering 
the whole State. The preamble of the act of incorporation reads as fol- 
lows: "Whereas, The proper education of youth in this infant country 
is highly necessary, and would answer the most valuable and beneficial 
purposes to this State and the good people thereof; and whereas, a very 
promising experiment hath been made at a seminary in the county of 
Mecklenburg, and a number of youths there taught have made great ad- 
vancements in the knowledge of the learned languages and in the rudi- 
ments of the arts and sciences, in the course of a regular and finished 
education, which they have since completed at various colleges in dis- 
tant parts of America; and whereas, the seminary aforesaid, and the 
several teachers who have successfully taught and presided therein, 
have hitherto been almost wholly supported by private subscriptions; 
in order, therefore, that said subscriptions and other gratuities may be 
legally possessed and duly applied, and the said seminary, by the name 
of ' Liberty Hall/ may become more extensive and generally useful for 
the encouragement of liberal knowledge in languages, arts, and sciences, 
and for diffusing the great advantages of education upon more liberal, 
easy, and general terms, be it enacted by the General Assembly of the 
State of North Carolina, etc." 1 

The only authoritative account of this institution to be found is in a 
manuscript volume, written by Adlai Osborne, and deposited in the 
library of the University of North Carolina, from which the following 
extracts (quoted in Caruthers's Caldwell) are taken : 

" The regulations respecting the steward and boarding were singu- 
larly excellent and calculated to give general satisfaction. In April, 
1778, the laws formed by Dr. Isaac Alexander, Dr. Ephraim Brevard, and 
Eev. Thomas H. McGaule, the committee chosen at the last meeting, were 
adopted without any material alteration. The course of studies and 
the distinction of classes were nearly the same as those pointed out by 
the trustees of the University of North Carolina, but more limited, and 
the honors conferred were the same, except that instead of degrees of 
Bachelors and Masters the trustees had only the right of giving a cer- 
tificate of their studies and improvements. At this meeting overtures 
were made to Dr. Alexander McWhorter, of New Jersey, to accept the 
presidency, but he could not comply with their request owing to the 
derangement of his affairs from a long absence during the Eevolution- 
ary War, having been appointed by Congress to preach up liberty and 
independence to the inhabitants of the Southern States. Mr. Eobert 
Brownfield was then appointed to the office, and he agreed to accept for 
one year, as Dr. Alexander had thought proper to resign. Several gen- 
tlemen of great literary talents were successively invited without suc- 
cess. Dr. Ephraim Brevard and the Bev. Samuel E. McCorkle were 
then sent to New Jersey with a second invitation to Dr. McWhorter, 
with instructions, if he should think proper again to decline, to solicit 

1 Laws of North Carolina, p, 35 (James Davis, Newbern, 1777). 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 1729-1800. 35 

the advice of Dr. Witherspoon and Mr. Houston, of Princeton, in the 
choice of some other gentleman of eminence in the republic of letters. 
Dr. McWhorter, after settling his affairs, removed to Charlotte, and 
was about to take charge of Liberty Hall when the whole business re- 
lating to it was suspended, never to be resumed. This took place about 
the 15th of February, 1780." 

The following is a copy of the diploma received by Dr. John Graham, 
who was prominent in the early history of the State, and afterwards 
president of a college in South Carolina : 

" State of North Carolina, 

" Mecklenburg Comity : 
" This is to certify that Mr. John Graham hath been a student in the 
Academy at Liberty Hall, in the State and county above mentioned, the 
space of four years preceding the date hereof; that his whole deport- 
ment during his residence there was perfectly regular ; that he prose- 
cuted his studies with diligence, and made such acquisitions both in 
the languages and scientific learning as gave entire satisfaction to his 
teachers. 

" And he is hereby recommended to the friendly notice and regard of 
all lovers of religion and literature wherever he may come. 

" In testimony of which this is given at Liberty Hall this 22d day of 
November, 1778. 

"Isc. Alexander', 

'■' President 
u Eph. Brevard, 
"Abr'm Alexander, 

"Trustees." 

It is said that this institution was the most celebrated seminary of 
learning, except William and Mary, south of Princeton. Its able presi- 
dents, Rev. Dr. McWhorter and Dr. Ephraim Brevard, were both gradu- 
ates of Princeton. The Revolutionary War closed its halls, and they 
were desecrated by Cornwallis's troops, who burned them when his re- 
treat upon Wilmington commenced. 1 

In October, 1784, by an act of the Legislature, Liberty Hall Acad- 
emy was transferred to Salisbury, the name being changed to Salisbury 
Academy. 2 

Rev. S. C. Caldwell, after the closing of Liberty Hall Academy, main 
tained for many years a classical school of high grade at Sugar Creek, 
near Charlotte, where young men from the neighboring counties were 
prepared for the University of North Carolina and Princeton. 3 

x Wlieeler ? s Reminiscences, p. 256. Foote says that Liberty Hall was used by Corn- 
wallisasa hospital, and was greatly defaced and injured, but does not say that it was 
burned. — Sketches of North Carolina, p. 516. 

2 Martin's Collection of Private Acts, p. 142 (Newbern, 1794). 

3 Rev. J. Rumple, D. D., in North Carolina Presbyterian. 



36 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

After peace was declared between this country and Great Britain, Dr. 
Thomas Henderson, a physician of note, who had been educated at Lib- 
erty Hall Academy, opened a high school, which he carried on with great 
reputation for a number of years. 1 Since that time excellent institu- 
tions for both males and females have been maintained at Charlotte. 

REV. HENRY PATILLO'S SCHOOL. 

Eev. Henry Patillo, a contemporary of Eev. Dr. Caldwell, for many 
years maintained a classical school in Orange County. Although this 
school is mentioned by writers as one of the best schools in the province, 
no detailed information concerning it can be obtained. Mr. Patillo 
studied at Princeton during the presidency of the Eev. Samuel Davies, 
so noted in the religious controversies in Virginia during the first half 
of the eighteenth century, and who afterwards did so much to establish 
the reputation of Princeton and put it on a firm financial basis. Such 
was Mr. Patillo's reputation as a scholar that in 1789 the degree of 
A. M. was conferred on him causa honoris by Hampden-Sidney College, 
of Virginia. 

Like many of the other Presbyterian ministers of his day, he took a 
prominent part in the political questions in which the colony was 
involved. In 1775 he was a member of the Provincial Congress of North 
Carolina, being at the same time chaplain of the body. He had the 
honor of being the chairman of this Congress in committee of the whole 
in considering the arrangements for confederation. The reputation 
made by some of the students of his school during the first years of the 
history of the State after independence had been achieved evidences 
that " he was a faithful and successful teacher,'' and his services to his 
country during the war of the Eevolution will entitle him to a high 
place in the history of North Carolina when it is written as it deserves 
to be, and the records of her patriotic sons are made known and become 
a part of the history of our whole country. 2 

GRANVILLE HALL. 

In October, 1779, "Granville Hall," Granville County, was incor- 
porated. This school was liberally supported, and for many years was 
one of the leading educational institutions in the State. 

The preamble to the act of incorporation reads as follows : " Whereas, 
The proper education of youth in this State is highly necessary and 
would answer the most valuable and beneficial purposes to the good 
people thereof; and whereas, the county of Granville, from its situation 
both pleasant and healthy, well watered and abounding with provis- 
ions, is a fit and proper place to erect buildings for a seminary of learn- 

1 Foote's Sketches of North Carolina, pp. 477, 517. 

2 For an interesting sketch of the life of Rev. Henry Patillo, see Foote's Sketches 
pp. 213-230. 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 1729-1800. 37 

ing; and -whereas, large sums of money have already been subscribed 
to promote and encourage such a laudable and beneficial establishment, 
which together with such other sums as may be given in donations and 
otherwise will answer all the expense attending the same, Resolved, etc. 1 ' 

The following trustees were appointed : Governor Eichard Caswell ; 
Abner Nash, Speaker of the Senate ; Thomas Benbury, Speaker of the 
House of Commons 5 John Penn, Eev. George Micklejohn, Eev. Henry 
Patillo, Thomas Person, Edmund Taylor, John Taylor, Memucan Hunt, 
Philemon Hawkius, Jr., Howell Lewis, Eobert Lewis, Charles Eust 
Eaton, John Young, and Samuel Smith. They were instructed to pur- 
chase five hundred acres of land and erect suitable buildings. 1 

For several years the Eev. Henry Patillo was principal of this insti- 
tution. 

CLIO'S NURSERY AND THE ACADEMV OF THE SCIENCES. 

Clio's Nursery, located on Snow Creek, Iredell County, was opened 
about the beginning of the Eevolutionary War. For many years the 
Eev. James Hall, D. D., a patriot, scholar, and divine of western North 
Carolina, was the superintendent of this institution, where so many 
whose memory North Carolina now delights to honor studied. But the 
school is remembered chiefly on account of the history of its superin- 
tendent, James Hall, who was born at Carlisle, Pa., August 22, 1744, 
but in early youth made North Carolina his home. In 1774 he was 
graduated from Princeton, where he stood first in his classes. As a stu- 
dent he especially distinguished himself in the exact sciences, and such 
was the reputation he made in those studies that soon after his gradu- 
ation President Witherspoon proposed to have him appointed teacher 
of mathematics in Princeton. Mr. Hall declined this honor, feeling 
that duty called him to labor in North Carolina. The Orange Presby- 
tery licensed him to preach in 1776, and two years later he became pas- 
tor of churches within the bounds of that presbytery. 

He was an earnest advocate of the cause of liberty, and the following 
tribute to his memory is worthily bestowed : " A full account of the 
actions of Mr. Hall during the Eevolutionary War would fill a volume. 
His active, enterprising spirit would not let him be neuter ; his princi- 
ples, drawn from the Word of God and the doctrines of his church, and 
cultivated by Dr. Witherspoon, carried him with all his heart to the de- 
fence of his country. To that he gave his powers of mind, body, and 
estate." 2 His appeals during the opening years of the war did much to 
fire the hearts of North Carolinians for the cause of liberty. When 
Cornwallis was devastating South Carolina Mr. Hall called the people 
of his section together and addressed them with great fervor. A cav- 
alry company was immediately organized, and by general consent he 
was demanded for their leader, which post he accepted. He was at the 

1 Martin's Collection of Private Acts, p. 93. 
• 2 Alexander's Princeton College during the Eighteenth Century, p. 176. 



38 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

same time the captain of a company and the chaplain of a regiment. 
General Greene tendered him a commission as general, which he de- 
clined on the grounds that there were others who could fill the position 
with ability equal at least to his, while he had pledged his life to the 
work of the ministry. 1 

After the war Doctor Hall again resumed his duties in the "log 
college" mentioned above. In connection with his duties as principal 
of Olio's Nursery, he opened at his residence an " academy of the sci- 
ences," which was supplied by him with some philosophical appara- 
tus, and of which he was the sole professor. This was the first sci- 
entific school in the State. A large number of men who afterwards 
became distinguished received their scientific education there while 
pursuing their classical studies at Olio's Nursery. Besides a number 
of ministers who studied under his direction, there were President 
Waddell, of Athens College, and Judge Lowrie, of Georgia ; Andrew 
Pickens and Governor Israel Pickens, of Alabama 5 and George W. 
Campbell, Secretary of the Treasury in 1841 and afterwards minister to 
Russia, and Judge Williams, of Tennessee. Many of the students of 
these institutions. came from Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Ala- 
bama, and other States. 

The great want of the schools of this time was elementary text-books. 
To meet this need he wrote a treatise on English grammar, which was 
copied and circulated in manuscript, and afterwards printed and largely 
used in the schools of North Carolina and neighboring States. 

Doctor Hall died July 25, 1826, but the school of which he was the 
principal survived him many years, and finally gave place to Davidson 
College, founded by and under the direction of the Presbyterians of 
North and South Carolina. 2 

SCIENCE HALL. 

In 1779 Science Hall, at Hillsborough, Orange County, was incorpo- 
rated, with William Hooper, Alexander Martin, and others as trustees. 
They were given the same privileges as the trustees of Liberty Hall 
Academy. 

The Legislature in 1784 accorded this institution the privilege to 
raise money by means of a lottery, and also gave the school the old Epis- 
copal church, built in colonial times by taxation, for recitation halls, 
reserving the right of holding sessions of the Legislature in it when the 
General Assembly should convene in Hillsborough. 3 

ZION PARNASSUS. 

Zion Parnassus, a classical school established by the Rev. Samuel Eu- 
sebius McCorkle, a native of Pennsylvania, at Thyatira, on the road be- 

1 Alexander's Princeton College, pp. 175, 176. 
3 Foote's Sketches of North Carolina, pp. 330, 331. 
3 Martin's Collection of Private Acts, p. 87. 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 1729-1800. 39 

tween Salisbury and Statesville, in 1785, is noted as the first institution, 
certainly in North Carolina (and President Battle, of the University of 
North Carolina, thinks in America), having a distinct normal school at- 
tachment. At this school worthy young men needing assistance were 
given their tuition and furnished with the necessary text-books. Dr. 
McCorkle was a graduate of Princeton, class of 1772, and his course of 
instruction was modelled after the course of that college. We are told 
that a high standard of scholarship was maintained in Zion Parnassus, 
and that the idle and vicious were excluded. That so large a proportion 
of his students became useful in the liberal professions is due to the fact 
that he only encouraged those to pursue advanced courses who mani- 
fested decided talent. It is said that forty-five of his pupils became min- 
isters of the Gospel. Six of the seven first graduates of the University of 
North Carolina were prepared for that institution by Dr. McCorkle. At 
the establishment of the State University Dr. McCorkle was elected 
first professor, and given the chair of moral and political philosophy, 
which was declined. Alexander says : u He was a thorough scholar, and 
kept up his acquaintance, not only with the Latin and Greek classics, 
but with mathematics, philosophy, and every important branch of learn- 
ing." The degree of D. D. was conferred on Dr. McCorkle by Dartmouth 
College in 1792. He was a man of fine conversational powers, of noble 
physique, and is said to have much resembled Thomas Jefferson in ap- 
pearance and gait. 1 After Dr. McCorkle's death, in 1811, the school 
which he had so successfully conducted was suspended, but was soon 
re-opened in Salisbury, and with few intermissions has continued till the 
present as the Salisbury High School. 

OTHER PRESBYTERIAN SCHOOLS. 

In 1791 the Eev. David Kerr, pastor of the Presbyterian church in 
Fayetteville, opened a classical school under the direction of a board of 
trustees in that town. Mr. Kerr was a graduate of Trinity College, Dub- 
lin, and in his day was considered one of the best scholars in the State. 
In July, 1794, he was elected a professor in the University of North Car- 
olina, and some incidents in his life will be noted in the sketch of that 
institution. 2 Prom that time to this the people of Fayetteville have, 
with but few interruptions, maintained an excellent classical school. 

The last of the Presbyterian schools of the eighteenth century in 
North Carolina, whose names are known to the writer, of sufficient 
imxjortance to deserve mention here, were the Providence Academy, 
about twelve miles from Charlotte, established by the Eev. James Wallis 
in 1792, and the Poplar Tent Academy, in Cabarrus County, estab- 
lished about 1778 3 by the Rev. Robert Archibald, who was graduated at 
Princeton in 1772. " Mr. Archibald," says Alexander, " was a man 

1 Alexander's Princeton College, p. 156 ; Foote's Sketches of North- Carolina, p. 361. 
2 Foote's Sketches of North Carolina, p. 490. 
-Ibid., pp.442, 482. 



40 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

of talent, of an amiable disposition, and considered a good classical 
scholar." l 

These schools were continued through nearly the first half of this 
century, but finally gave place to other institutions, the last principal of 
Providence Academy becoming the first president of Davidson College, 
aud the last principal of Poplar Tent being made president of the board 
of trustees of that institution. 

APPROPRIATIONS FOR EDUCATION. 

In 1760 Governor Dobbs recommended the subject of education to the 
Legislature, and proposed that the vestry in each parish should raise a 
limited sum to pay a parish clerk and register, who should be qualified 
to act as school- master and, in the absence of the clergyman, as reader. 
The sum so raised was afterwards borrowed for military purposes, to 
be paid back by a direct tax upon the people. This tax was never laid, 
and consequently the school money was never refunded. 

In his address to the General Assembly, which met in Wilmington in 
1764, Governor Dobbs deplored the great want of clergymen. In their 
reply, the Lower House admitted the " want of clergymen," but added, 
" sufficient provision was already made in proportion to the ability of 
the people, and there were large sums appropriated for the establish- 
ment of schools and for the purchase of glebes, under a suspending 
clause, until the King's pleasure was known, which had been borrowed 
for the service of the late war, and since in part for contingencies." 2 

It was at this session of the Legislature that an act was passed for 
the erection of a school-house and a residence for the master in the 
town of ISTewbern, which was the first effectual aid given by the Govern- 
ment for the encouragement of literature. Half of two lots which had 
been appropriated to the church in 1740 was set apart for these pur- 
poses. 3 

INCORPORATED SCHOOLS— NEWBERN ACADEMY. 

The Eewbern school was incorporated in 1766, being the first incor- 
porated academy in the State. 

The act is entitled "An act for establishing a school-house in the 
town of Newbern," the preamble reading as follows : " Whereas, a num- 
ber of well-disposed persons, taking into consideration the great neces- 
sity of having a proper school or public seminary of learning established, 
whereby the rising generation may be brought up and instructed in the 
principles of the Christian religion and fitted for the several offices and 
purposes of life, have at great expense erected and built, in the town 
of Newbern, a convenient house for the purposes aforesaid; and being 

1 Alexander's Princeton College, p. 148. 

2 Martin's North Carolina, Vol. II, p. 180. 

3 Davis's First Revisal, Laws of North Carolina, p. 351. 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 1729-1800. 41 

desirous that the same may be established by law on a permanent foot- 
ing, so as to answer the good purposes by the said persons intended: 
Be it enacted by the Governor, council, and Assembly, and by the au- 
thority of the same, etc." It was then provided that trustees should 
be elected, the same being incorporated into a body politic and corpo- 
rate by the name of the " Incorporated society for promoting and estab- 
lishing the public school in Newbern," and by that name to have per- 
petual succession and corporate seal. 

It was furthermore provided "That no person shall be admitted to 
be master of the said school but who is of the Established Church of 
England, and who, at the recommendation of the trustees or directors, 
or the majority of them, shall be duly licensed by the Governor, or 
Commander-in-chief for the time being." 

In addition to taking the several oaths of government and subscrib- 
ing to the Test, the trustees had to take the following oath: U I, A. B., 
do solemnly swear that I will duly and faithfully, to the best of my skill 
and ability, execute and discharge the several powers and authorities 
given me by an act of Assembly for establishing a school-house in the 
town of Newbern; and that in all things for the well-ordering and 
good government thereof, I will do equal and impartial justice to the 
extent of my understanding. So help me God." 

It was also enacted " That a duty of one penny per gallon on all rum, 
or other spirituous liquors imported into ($) the river Neuse, be paid, for 
and during the space of seven years, from and after the passing of this 
act, by the importers thereof, for and towards raising a fund for the 
education of ten poor children in the said school (to be chosen by the 
trustees), whose parents may be unable to pay for the same; and that 
the said duty be part of the common stock of the said school, and to be 
appropriated as aforesaid, and towards giving a salary of twenty pounds 
per year to the master of said school, towards enabling him to keep an 
assistant, which said duty shall be collected, accounted for, and paid to 
the treasurer of the said school, in the same manner, and under the 
same penalties and restrictions as the duty of four pence per gallon on 
spirituous liquors is now paid and collected." 1 

Owing to the fact that prior to the Eevolutionary War this school 
was under the control of the Established Church, it was not favorably 
regarded by dissenters, many of them sending their sons to the Presby- 
terian schools of piedmont Carolina, to be educated. 2 

In his account of this school Vass says: ;i The first large and com- 
modious building, erected at great expense, was burned down accident- 
ally in 1795, when, by an act of Assembly, a room in the Palace was used 
for the school- room. The present old brick academy was erected in 
1806 ; the corner-stone of the additional elegant graded school building 
was laid in 1884, just one hundred and twenty years after the first act 

1 Davis's Sec. Eevisal (Newbern, 1773), p. 359. 
2 Carutliers's Caldwell, p. 30. 



42 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

of the Legislature already mentioned. In that older building Gaston, 
Stanly, Badger, Spaight, Hawks, and many other distinguished sons 
of Carolina were educated for future careers of honor and usefulness." 1 

The North Carolina Gazette of July 24, 1778, contaius the follow- 
ing advertisements, which show that even during the Eevolution edu- 
cation was not wholly neglected in Newbern : 

u Mr. Joseph Blyth has opened school in the public school-house, and 
will teach Latin, English, arithmetic, geography, geometry, trigonom- 
etry, and* several other of the most useful branches of the mathematics, 
according to the best and most approved methods. Gentlemen and 
ladies who favor him with their children may depend he will be dili- 
gent and pay proper attention to their education. 

" Newbern, July 24." 

In the same paper Mr. George Harrison advertises a school for in- 
struction in the English and French languages. 2 

EDENTON ACADEMY. 

In 1770 an act was passed "for vesting the school-house in Edenton 
in trustees." The preamble is as follows : " Whereas, the inhabitants 
of the town qf Edenton, for the promoting the education of youth and 
encouragement of learning, have, by voluntary subscription, purchased 
two lots and erected a convenient school-house thereon in an agreeable 
and healthy situation in the said town : Therefore, etc." The charter 
provides, like that of the ETewbern Academy, that the principal must 
be a member of the Established Church. 3 

INNIS ACADEMY. 

Of the academy founded in Wilmington by James Innis and in- 
corporated by the Legislature in 1783, not much is to he learned. 
Wheeler, in referring to Mr. Innis, says: "Much interest is connected 
with this name, since from his will, duly proved in 1759 before Gov- 
ernor Dobbs, the * Innis Academy 7 had its origin. In April of that 
year the Legislature passed an act incorporating the academy, with 
Samuel Ashe, A. McLain, William Hill, and others as trustees. Before 
the academy building was completed, a theatrical corps had been organ- 
ized in Wilmington, and an arrangement was made between them and 
the trustees that the lower part of the building should be fitted up and 
used exclusively for a theatre. This arrangement was carried out by 
a perpetual lease made to the ' Thalian Association.' 

" The name of Colonel Innis is frequently met with in the history of 
the State. He was born in Scotland, and lived at Point Pleasant, on 
the north-east branch of the Cape Eear Eiver, about seven miles from 



1 Vass's Eastern North Carolina, p. 75. 
*IMd., p. 44. 



Laws of North Carolina, Davis's Sec. Revisal (Newbern, 1773), p. 478. 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 1729-1800. 43 

Wilmington. He had been an officer of rank in the British army, and 
was distinguished in the expedition against Carthagena, in South 
America. He was considered a man of mark, and possessed of consid- 
erable estate." l 

Mr. Wheeler is evidently mistaken as to the date of the establish- 
ment and incorporation of this school. In Martin's Collection of the 
Private Acts of the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, 
published at Newbern in 1794, we find that the Innis Academy, for the 
establishment of which Colonel Innis had bequeathed his home, known 
as Point Pleasant, and other plantations, and his negro slaves, was 
incorporated by the Legislature in April, 1783. It was provided in 
the act of incorporation that ; 'the rector, professors, and tutors of this 
academy, and all other academies and public schools in this State es- 
tablished by law, shall be exempt from military duty during their con- 
tinuance in those offices, provided the number of teachers in any of the 
said academies or public schools shall not exceed three; provided, also, 
that all scholars and students entering into said academy, or any other 
public school and being of the»age of fifteen years or under at the time 
of entering, shall, during their continuance thereat, be exempt from all 
military duties." 

MARTIN ACADEMY— NOW WASHINGTON COLLEGE, TENNESSEE. 

In 1783 the Legislature of North Carolina incorporated Martin Acad- 
emy, in Washington County, N. C. (now Washington County, Tenn.), 
which was the first literary institution that was established in the great 
valley of the Mississippi. John Canson, president, and Hezekiah Balch, 
Samuel Doak, William Heuston, James Heuston, Thomas Stewart, Daniel 
Kenady, Landon Carter, and Eobert Irwin were incorporated into a 
body politic and corporate as president and trustees of Martin Academy, 
u with the same powers, authorities, and privileges " as were accorded the 
president and trustees of Liberty Hall Academy, in Charlotte. 2 This 
school became Washington College in 1795. Eev. Samuel Doak, a na- 
tive of Virginia, educated at Princeton College and at one time a tutor 
in Hainpden- Sidney College, was the president of this school from its 
incorporation in 1783 till 1818. Foote says: " He procured for his in- 
stitution a small library in Philadelphia, caused it to be transported in 
sacks on pack-horses across the mountains, and thus formed the nu- 
cleus of the library at Washington College. The brick buildings overlook 
the site of the log college ; but long must it be before the enlarged in- 
stitution can equally overshadow the usefulness of the log academy and 
college that for a time supplied the opportunities for education for min- 
isters, lawyers, and doctors, in the early days of Tennessee, and still 
is sending out its stream." 3 

1 Wheeler's Reminiscences, p. 308. 

2 Martin's Collection of Private Acts, p. 119; also see Phelan's History of Tennessee, 
Dedication, and page 233. 

■ ! Foote's Sketches of North Carolina, p. 311." 



44 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

MORGAN ACADEMY. 

Morgan Academy, «Burke County, one of the most noted schools in 
that part of the State then called the District of Morgan, was incor- 
porated in 1783 with James Temple, president, and Waightstill Avery, 
Charles McDowell, William Moore, Alexander Irwin, James Greenlie, 
Benjamin Ellage, Abraham Denton, and David Yance as president and 
trustees. 1 

OTHER INCORPORATED INSTITUTIONS. 

The following list includes all the incorporated schools of the eight- 
eenth century in North Carolina which have not been previously men- 
tioned. The date of incorporation is given in each case. It will be seen 
that at the close of the Eevolutionary War much interest was mani- 
fested in the promotion of education : 

Smith's Academy, Edenton, Chowan County, 1782. 

The General Assembly, in 1783, passed an act establishing two public schools in 
Onslow County, one in the village of New Town, at the mouth of White Oak River, 
and the other at the Richlands of New River. By the same act the name of Ne^ 
Town was changed to Swansborough. 3 

Davidson Academy, Davidson County, 1785. — Two hundred and forty acres of State 
land were given this school. 

Grove Academy, Duplin County, 1785. — The North Carolina Chronicle, or Fayette- 
ville Gazette, of January 3, 1791, contains the following advertisement of this insti- 
tution, which gives an idea of its scope and character: 

" Gentlemen who wish to encourage literature in this part of the State are hereby 
informed that the Grove Academy in this county will, on the second Monday in 
January, again open ; where the Greek and Latin languages will be taught, and also 
the sciences. Boarding may be procured on as moderate terms as can, from the pres- 
ent price of produce, be expected. We also presume that the order and regulation 
here observed, and the progress made by those who have been members of it, is equal 
to any which have been made in any private institution. 

"The assistance and encouragement of generous and patriotic gentlemen will be 
kindly received. 

11 By order of the trustees. 

"Thomas Routledge, 

" Duplin County, December 24, 1790. " " Vice-President. " 

Dobbs Academy, Kinston, Dobbs County (now Lenoir County), 1785. 

Franklin Academy, Franklin County, 1786. 

Pitt Academy, Marti nborough, Pitt Couuty, 1786. — By the same act the name of Mar- 
tinborough was changed to Greenville. ^^ 

Pitlsborougli Academy, Chatham County, 1786. 

Richmond Academy, Richmond County, 1786. 

Warrenton Academy, District of Halifax (now Warren County), 1786. — Prominent 
among the trustees were Nathaniel Macon, Benjamin Hawkins, and Rev. Henry Pa- 
tillo. The treasurer of the board was bound in a bond of £5,000. The institution 
could confer certificates of proficiency, but not degrees. 

Currituck Seminary of Learning, Currituck County, 1789. — Trustees were appointed 
to take charge of property and gifts to the institution, and to attend to the " build- 

1 Martin's Collection of Private Acts, p. 119. -Ibid., p. 118. 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 1729-1800. 45 

ing or purchasing of suitable and convenient houses, purchasing a library and philo- 
sophical apparatus, and supporting and paying the salaries of the provost and such 
number of professors and tutors as to them shall seem necessary." 

Onslow Academy, Onslow County, 1791. 

Lumberton Academy, Robeson County, 1791. 

Stokes Seminary, Wadesborough, Anson County, 1791. 

Stokes Seminary, Henderson, Montgomery County, 1797. 

Bladen Academy, Elizabeth, Bladen County, 1797. 

Seminary in Salisbury, Rowan County, 1798. 

Smithville Academy, Brunswick County, 1798. — The trustees were authorized by the 
act of incorporation to raise $7,000 by lottery for the school. 

Unity Meeting- House Academy, Randolph County, 1798. 

Adams Creek Academy, Craven County, 1798. 

Fayetteville Academy, Cumberland County, 1799. 

Moore County Academy, Moore County, 1799. 

Some of the above institutions had existed several years before being 
incorporated. 

LOTTERIES FOR SCHOOLS. 

In the eighteenth and in the early part of the present century, it was 
common in North Carolina, as in other States, for the Legislature to 
grant to schools the right to raise funds for building and other pur- 
poses by means of lotteries. The University of North Carolina was 
assisted in this way several times. 

The following act, passed by the General Assembly in 1797, will show 
how these lotteries were conducted : 

"AN ACT to authorize the trustees of the Pittsborough Academy to raise the sum of 
seven hundred dollars, by way of lottery. 

u Whereas, The trustees of the academy aforesaid have represented 
to this General Assembly that the raising of the above sum of seven 
hundred dollars would be of great benefit to said institution : 

" I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, 
and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the trustees of 
the academy aforesaid shall have leave to raise by way of lottery the 
sum aforesaid, and that John Eamsey, James Taylor, Charles Chalmers, 
John Henderson, James Bradley, John Dabney, and William Warden 
shall be, and they are hereby, appointed commissioners for the purpose 
of opening and completing a scheme of a lottery calculated to raise the 
sum aforesaid, in the following manner: 

3, 500 tickets at two dollars each, is $7, 000. 

1 Prize of four hundred dollars is $400 

2 Prizes of one hundred dollars is 200 

4 Do. of fifty dollars is 200 

8 Do. of thirty-five dollars is 280 

18 Do. of twenty-five dollars is 450 

200 Do. of ten dollars is 2,000 

490 Do. of three dollars is 1,470 

400 Do. of five dollars is..... 2,000 

1,123 Prizes.... $7,000 

2,377 Blanks. 

3, 500 Tickets at two dollars each, is $7,000. 



46 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

"And the said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall be man- 
agers of said lottery, and shall be accountable for the prizes and profits 
thereof. 

" II. And be it further enacted, That when three-fourths of the said tick- 
ets are sold, that the drawing of the said lottery shall commence, under 
the management of the said commissioners, they giving thirty days 7 no- 
tice in the Fayetteville Gazette. 

" III. And be it further enacted, That all prizes shall be paid in four 
weeks after the drawing is finished upon demand of a possessor of a 
fortunate ticket, which prize shall be subject to a deduction of ten per 
cent. 5 and if such prize is not demanded within six months after the 
drawing is finished, of which public notice shall be given in some public 
paper in this State, the same shall be considered as relinquished for the 
benefit of said academy, and the produce of said lottery shall be vested 
in the trustees aforesaid." 

Sections IV and Y of the act provide for the bond of the treasurer, and 
for the collection of the bond in case he should fail to perform his duty. 

GERMAN IMMIGRATION— -THE MORAVIANS. 

Of the 30,000 Germans who left their country in the early part of the 
eighteenth century to find homes tu America, 18,000 are said to have 
eventually settled in North Carolina. Baron De Graffenried with his 
Swiss and Palatines settled in Newbern in the eastern part of the State. 
Later German emigration settled principally in the Piedmont section. 

In 1751 the religious sect known as the Unitas Fratrum, commonly 
called Moravians, purchased 100,000 acres of land in western Carolina, 
and in 1753 began their settlement, which from that time to this has 
been noted as one of the most moral, prosperous, and intelligent com- 
munities in the State. 

These Germans were, as a class, men of fair education and refinement, 
especially in the Moravian settlements. The latter, even before homes 
for all had been provided, erected a church and school-house in their 
settlement. 

One of the most noted of the early Moravian settlers in Carolina was 
John Jacob Fries, who came to the colony in April, 1754. Mr. Fries 
was a native of Denmark, where, previous to his coming to America, he 
had officiated as an assistant minister and had acquired a wide reputa- 
tion as an accomplished scholar, especially in the Hebrew language. 
He was one of the pioneer teachers of North Carolina, in which voca- 
tion he continued till his death in 1793. 1 

Salem, one of the most beautiful towns in the State and the principal 
settlement of the Moravians, was laid out in 1765. The first permanent 
school-house for boys was built in 1794. An account of the Moravians, 2 

1 Vide Reichel's History of the Moravians in North Carolina. 

2 Supposed to have been written by Bishop Reichel, of the Moravian Church, and 
published in Martin's North Carolina, Vol. I, Appendix. 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 1729-1800, 47 

written about 1800, contains the following : " The male children of the 
inhabitants of the town and of the other members of the congregations 
living in the neighborhood receive from their sixth to their twelfth or 
fourteenth year instruction in reading and writing, German and Eng- 
lish, ciphering, history, geography, and some of them in the rudi- 
ments of the Latin language, drawing, and music." 

The Salem Female Academy, one of the best equipped and most 
widely known institutions for higher female education in the South, was 
founded in 1802. Its history is valuable and interesting. Until the 
late Civil War it was the most noted female school in the South, and 
one of the best in the Union, and up to that time its influence on the 
higher female education in other States was marked. The total number 
of students who studied here between 1804 and 1856 was 3,470, from 
seventeen States. This school throughout its entire existence has been 
noted for the competent and successful teachers it has sent forth. It is 
patronized by every denomination, and the most distinguished men of 
the country have sent daughters there to be educated. 

THE LUTHERANS. 

Previous to the Revo lutionary War the Lutheran congregation in the 
State was under the supervision of the Consistory of Hanover and the 
University of Gottingen, which not only gave pecuniary aid, but also 
sent over pastors and teachers, who were men of ability and scholar- 
ship. Gottfried Arndt was one of the most noted of these. After the 
Eevolutionary War the North Carolina congregation was made subject 
to the Julius Charles University of Helmstadt, in the Duchy of Bruns- 
wick. The Lutherans have ever maintained good schools, and at this 
time have under their control North Carolina College in Cabarrus 
County, Concordia College in Catawba County, and Gaston College in 
Gaston County. 3 

STATE OF EDUCATION IN 1795. 

The state of education in North Carolina during the closing years of 
the eighteenth century may be judged from the following extract from 
a very interesting and instructive work written by Eev. W. Winter- 
botham, which is entitled, A View of the United States of America, 
published in London, 1796. After giving an account of the State Uni- 
versity, which had just* been opened, he adds : " There is a very good 
academy at Warrenton, another at Williamsborough, in Granville 
(County), and three or four others in the State of considerable note." 2 
The principal of the Warrenton Academy, Professor George, was a 
graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. 3 

1 Vide Brneheim's History of the German Settlements in North Carolina and South 
Carolina. 

2 American Journal of Education, Vol. XVI, p. X56, 
^Foote's Sketches of North Carolina, p, 543, 



48 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

An announcement in the North Carolina Journal of June 22, 1795, 
written about the time of Dr. Winterbotham's visit to the United States, 
reads: "We have the pleasure to announce to the public that the 
academy at Thyatira, erected and conducted by Dr. McCorkle; the 
Warrenton Academy, under the management of the Eev. Mr. George ; 
and the Chatham and Newbern Academies, are all in a very flour- 
ishing state. The high reputation and great experience of the gen- 
tlemen who have the direction of these seminaries will insure their es- 
tablishment and success, and furnish annually a large number of stu- 
dents prepared to enter at once upon the higher branches." 

The State was now ready for a university. Men like Caldwell, Pa- 
tillo, and Hall had prepared the people for a higher and more thorough 
education than could be obtained in the log colleges. It was through 
their efforts that constitutional provision was made for the establish- 
ment of the University, and now at the beginning of the nineteenth 
century we find it the leading institution for higher education in North 
Carolina. 

TWO ACCOUNTS OF THE STATE OF EDUCATION AND SOCIETY BEFORE 

1810. 1 

In Caswell County. 

The following account of education in one of the northern central 
counties of the State is taken from an article by that distinguished 
North Carolinian, the Hon. Bartlett Yancy [now written Yancey], first 
published in the Raleigh Star, in August, 1810, and republished in the 
North Carolina University Magazine for November, 1860. 

Mr. Yancy says : " The progress of society and civilization depends 
upon the education and virtue of the people; great improvements, 
therefore, have been made since the first settlement of the county. 
From 1750 to twenty-five years after, it is computed that not more 
than one-third of the inhabitants could read, and scarcely half that num- 
ber could write a legible hand ; from 1775 to 1800 what was then called 
a common English education, viz, ' to read, write, and cipher as far as 
the rule of three,' was given to a little more than half of the inhabitants, 
but from 1800 up to the present time (1810) the progress of civilization 
and literature has been greater than for perhaps fifty years antecedent 
to that time. The great revival of religion about that period seems to 
have contributed much to the dissemination of morality, sound princi- 
ples, and good order in society; but, as naturalists have observed, 
every calm is succeeded by a storm, and accordingly many of the infe- 
rior classes of society appear now more depraved than ever. 

" For the progress of literature in the inferior branches of an educa- 
tion, such as reading, writing, and arithmetic, since 1800, the people of 
this county are much indebted to Mr. Eobert H. Childers. Greater im- 
provement in writing could not have been expected by any man. At 

1 See foot-note, p. 51. 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 1729-1800. 49 

least one-half of the youth of the county who write well were taught, 
either directly or indirectly, by this excellent penman. 

" Situated within a quarter of a mile of the court-house is Caswell 
Academy. The plan of Caswell Academy was first conceived and 
brought to view in the winter of 1801. Early in the succeeding year 
between $500 and $600 was subscribed, and during the year 1803 it 
was completed for the reception of students. The Bev. Hugh Shaw 
and Bartlett Yancy were the teachers for the first two years ; the 
number of students was from 55 to 65 each year. From that period the 
institution was not in a very flourishing state until 1808, since which 
time it has prospered much under the direction of Mr. John W. Cald- 
well, a gentleman educated in Guilford County by his father, the Eev. 
David Caldwell, well known in the State for his services in disseminat- 
ing literature, morality, and religion among his fellow-citizens. The 
funds of the academy at present are low ; it is now, and always has 
been, dependent on the liberality of the trustees of the institution 
and a few other public spirited gentlemen of the county for a support. 
No library of cod sequence is yet established ; a plan has, however, beeu 
suggested, and is now going into operation, by which it is hoped a good 
library will be procured in a few years. The number of students at 
present is 38. 

" Hico Academy, situated near the Ked House, in Caswell, was erected, 
it is believed, in 1804, by a number of public-spirited gentlemen in that 
part of the county. Mr. Shaw, after he left Caswell Academy, became 
the teacher in this academy for two or three years, during which time, 
it is believed, it had between 30 and 40 students. It has since been on 
a decline, and about the middle of last month it was consumed by fire. 
* * * The trustees have, however, determined to rebuild it of brick, 
upon a more extended plan. 

"Since the establishment of these institutions the progress of virtue 
and of science in the county has exceeded the most flattering hopes of 
the friends of literature. * * * The inhabitants generally are more 
enlightened $ men who thirty and forty years ago were considered the 
best informed and most learned among us are now scarcely equal in 
point of information to a school-boy of fifteen years." 

VTr. Yancy then mentions some honored citizens of North Carolina 
and Virginia who were fitted for the University at these institutions. 

He tells us that there were two societies in the county, constituted for 
intellectual improvement, their exercises being mostly polemical. In 
1808 some gentlemen of Person and Caswell Counties organized a society 
for the encouragement of the arts and agriculture, but, at the time he 
writes, but little had been done for its promotion. 

As a further index to the condition of society in this section of the 
State, the following facts are drawn from Mr. Yancy's admirable sketch : 

At that time (1810) there were in Caswell County five practising phy- 
sicians — John McAden, William S.Webb, Samuel Dabney, James Smith, 
17037— No. 2 4 



50 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

and Edward Foulks ; and three lawyers — Bartlett Yaney, Edward D. 
Jones, and Solomon Graves. 

The state of religion may best be estimated by the number of churches 
and communicants: u There are four Baptist churches and about 300 
communicants ; four Presbyterian congregations and about 200 or 250 
communicants ; three or four Methodist societies and 250 or 300 com- 
municants." 

We are told that " the amusements of the polite part of society consist 
in balls, tea-parties, and visiting parties. Those of an inferior class 
consist of Saturday-night frolics, now become almost obsolete ; shooting- 
matches and horse-racing afford amusement to the better sort of men, 
and now and then may be seen a party with an old, rusty pack of cards, 
amusing themselves for whisky. The only sporting club in the county 
is the f Jocky Club' of the Caswell turf." 

In Edgecombe County. 

In 1811 the Baleigh Star published a sketch of " Edgecombe County 
in 1810," by Jeremiah Battle, M. D., who was one of the first students 
of the State University. At this time he was a practising physician in 
Tarborough, Edgecombe County (in eastern North Carolina), but he 
afterwards removed to Ealeigh, where he died in 1825. The North 
Carolina University Magazine for April, 1861, republished Dr. Battle's 
article, and it is from this that the following data are obtained : 

" The progress of learning for twenty-five years back has been slow, 
and perhaps has not more than kept pace with the population, till 
within these two or three years. The people now manifest some dispo- 
sition to diffuse learning, perhaps from their finding the means of ob- 
taining it more accessible now than heretofore. The custom at the 
public schools, and in some towns, among those who are desirous of 
intellectual improvement, has found its way here. Societies have been 
formed, and kept up with a tolerable degree of spirit, greatly to the 
benefit of the members thereof,- both in talents and morals. * * * 
Some attempts have been made to procure libraries, but this, for some 
of the above reasons, was never effected, except by a society that was 
in existence about fifteen years ago. On the dissolution of that body 
the books were scattered abroad, or divided among those who contrib- 
uted to the establishment. The agricultural society has appropriated 
a sum of money to procure an agricultural library. Some donations 
are made of books for this purpose. On tlie fourth day of July, 1810, 
proposals were made for the establishment of a society for the promo- 
tion of agriculture and the arts. The plan has succeeded so far as to 
go into operation. It has now upwards of thirty respectable members, 
whose public spirit is thus manifested, greatly to their benefit, and it is 
to be hoped to the benefit of the country. *'•--* 

" It is believed that about two-thirds of the people generally can 
read, and one-half of the males write their names, but not more than 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 1729-1800. 51 

one-third of the women can write. The girls not at school are learn- 
ing and are very desirous to write ; it is deemed a more important ac- 
complishment in that sex among the common people now than for- 
merly. * * * 

u There are seventeen county schools in the county, at which there are 
about four hundred scholars ; nothing more is attempted to be taught 
in them than the elements of reading, writing, and arithmetic, and but 
few of the teachers are qualified to do justice to those. IsTotwithstand- 
ing this apparently infant state of literature, we may easily discover 
that it is progressing ; for fifty years ago there was not more thai) one 
or two schools in the whole county. For want of an academy in this 
county several have been sent to those in the adjacent; ones, viz, at 
Westrayville and Yine Hill. It is in contemplation to establish an 
academy at Mount Prospect, in this county, and we can not account 
for the delay otherwise than from the general indifference with which 
learning is still viewed." 

Dr. Battle, in the article q uoted from above, says that there was but 
one lawyer and few physicians in the county in 1810, but that quacks 
were abundant. 

The only religious denominations were the Baptists and Methodists. 
The former had several churches and numbered about five hundred aod 
twenty communicants. The Methodists were not strong numerically, 
but had several places of worship. 

Amusements were not pursued to any great extent. The principal 
out-door sports were hunting, fishing, shooting-matches, course-racing, 
and quarter-racing. There were no " sporting clubs. v Dr. Battle says : 
u Card-playing is an amusement confined to a few; and they are not 
much disposed to make the winning and losing any great object. 
Gambling under the name of amusement has nearly ceased. The ladies 
have never been known to play for money. Balls and family tea-par- 
ties afford the principal amusements in which the ladies participate, 
and those are not so common as formerly." * 

1 It must not be understood that the above accounts represent the general educa- 
tional condition of North Carolina in 1810. They are true for the counties of which 
they treat, but, as has been shown, those parts of the State in which Presbyterians 
were influential, good classical schools had existed since about the middle of the 
eighteenth century. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



THE CONSTITUTION AND THE UNIVERSITY. ' 

North Carolina was one of the first States to make constitutional pro- 
vision for the higher education . To the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians occu- 
pying Central and Piedmont Carolina is due the lasting honor of having 
established the first academies in the Province, and it is said that it was 
through their influence that the clause providing for a university was 
inserted in the initial Constitution of the State. It is worthy of note 
that the men of Mecklenburg County, whose capital, Charlotte, was 
termed by Cornwallis " the hornets' nest of the Revolution," instructed 
their delegates, John Phifer, Robert Irwin, Zaccheus Wilson, Hezekiah 
Alexander, and Waightstill Avery, to use their endeavors for the es- 
tablishment of a college and its endowment and maintenance. In the 
efforts to promote education, privileges which the British Government 
had accorded other colonies had been denied this, and, doubtless, the 
refusal of the King to grant a charter to Queen's College, in Charlotte, 
on conditions similar to those of Harvard and Princeton, fired the re- 
sentment of the Revolutionary patriots, and quickened their action 
under the blessings of liberty and the protection of the new-born Re- 
public. 

It was one of the darkest hours of the Revolution when the represent- 
atives of the people met at Halifax, November 12, 1776, to throw off 
their provisional government and adopt a permanent constitution. The 
recent defeat of the Continental Army at Long Island and the capture 
of New York filled the country with gloom and despondency, but these 
sturdy sons of Carolina had hearts full of stern resolution and abiding 
faith. On the 18th of December a State Constitution was adopted, and 
it is in obedience to a clause of Section XLI that the University owes its 
establishment. ] 

In the annual address before the Alumni Association of the Univer- 
sity of North Carolina, which convened in Raleigh on January 26, 1881, 
President Kemp P. Battle thus alluded to the members of the conven- 
tion: " They not only framed a constitution of surpassing wisdom, but 

1 It is worthy of note that this clause is almost identical with Article XLIV of the 
Constitution of Pennsylvania, which was adopted by the Convention which met in 
Philadelphia from July 15 to September 28, 177G. 

52 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 53 

with faith approaching sublimity, when bullets were being moulded and 
soldiers were marshalling, and the roar of cannon was echoing among 
the hills, they provided for the interests of unborn children. Their 
clear vision looked through the murky present, and discerned the 
needs of the distant future. They knew that their children would not 
be capable of freedom without education. They knew there could be 
no education without teachers. They knew that teachers could not be 
procured without institutions of higher learning, and while providing 
for the education of the masses they made the requirements of the Uni- 
versity a part of the fundamental law. They coupled common school 
education with the education of the University. Hear these golden 
words written amid storms and thundering, to be made good when the 
sun shone brightly on a free and united people : 'A school or schools 
shall be established by the Legislature for the convenient instruction of 
youth, with such salaries to the masters, paid by the public, as may 
enable them to instruct at low prices j and all useful learning shall 
be duly encouraged and promoted in one or more Universities. 7 " 

The conventions of 1835, 1861, 1865, and 1868 left the requirements 
of the University in the Constitution. The people, in 1873, by a separate 
vote, indorsed the University, and intrusted its management to the Gen- 
eral Assembly. The convention of 1875 re-enacted the University pro 
visions, and its action was ratified by the people in 1876. Thus the 
University, born of the Constitution of 1776, has continued the child of 
the State. 

The present Constitution provides, in Article IX, Sections 6, 7, and 
14, that " The General Assembly shall have power to provide for the 
election of trustees of the University of North Carolina, in whom when 
chosen, shall be vested all the privileges, rights, franchises, and endow- 
ments thereof, in anywise granted to or conferred upon the trustees of 
said University ; and the General Assembly may make such provisions, 
laws, and regulations, from time to time, as may be necessary and ex- 
pedient for the maintenance and management of said University. 

"The General Assembly shall provide that the benefits of the Univer- 
sity, as far as practicable, be extended to the youth of the State, free of 
expense for tuition ; also that all the property which has heretofore ac- 
crued to the State, or shall hereafter accrue, from escheats, unclaimed 
dividends, or distributive shares of the estates of deceased persons, 
shall be appropriated to the use of the University. 

"As soon as practicable after the adoption of this Constitution, the 
General Assembly shall establish and maintain in connection with the 
University, a department of agriculture, of mechanics, of mining, and of 
normal instruction." 

The Hon. John Manning, LL.D., professor of law in the University of 
North Carolina, in an address before the University Alumni Association 
in 1884, after emphasizing the constitutional claims of the University 
for State aid, said : " So that the University does not lack the sanction 



54 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

either of the Constitution or of the people. Under the loving care of 
the people of the State, led by wise master-builders, much more than 
from the liberality of the General Assembly, the University grew in the 
lapse of nearly a century to be a great institution, the nursing mother 
of the ingenuous youth of the State without distinction of party or sect. 
Embracing all her children in her great catholic heart, she has always 
striven to allay sectional feeling, to moderate sectarian heat, to culti- 
vate and encourage a broad, ardent love for the State, a veneration for 
her early history and traditions, an appreciation of the domestic virtues 
of her citizens, and a love of liberal learning." 

THE UNIVERSITY CHARTERED. 

While the war for independence was progressing, the mandate of the 
Constitution respecting education lay dormant ; but when peace was 
restored, the people again turned their attention to the promotion of 
learning. 

In November, 1789, North Carolina adopted the Constitution of the 
United States, and on the 11th of December following the University 
was chartered. The preamble to the act for its establishment reads as 
follows : " Whereas in all well regulated Governments, it is the indis- 
pensable Duty of every Legislature to consult the Happiness of a rising 
Generation, and endeavor to fit them for an honorable discharge of the 
social duties of life, by paying the strictest attention to their Educa- 
tion: — And whereas an University supported by permanent funds, and 
well endowed would have the most direct tendency to answer the above 
purpose : 1st, Be it therefore enacted? etc. The corporators named in 
this act as trustees were forty of the most distinguished men in the 
State. In the list are to be found the names of many of North Car- 
olina's early Governors, judges, Senators and Representatives in Con- 
gress. Let us call the roll of these friends and promoters of the higher 
education : Samuel Johnston, James Iredell, Charles Johnson, Hugh 
Williamson, Stephen Cabarrus, Richard Dobbs Spaight, William 
Blount, Benjamin Williams, John Sitgreaves, Frederick Hargett, Rob- 
ert W. Snead, Archibald Maclaine, Samuel Ashe, Robert Dixon, Ben- 
jamin Smith, Samuel Spencer, John Hay, James Hogg, Henry William 
Harrington, William Barry Grove, Samuel McCorkle, Adlai Osborne, 
John Stokes, John Hamilton, Joseph Graham, John Williams, Thomas 
Person, Alfred Moore, Alexander Mebane, Joel Lane, Willie Jones, 
Benjamin Hawkins, John Haywood, Sr., John Macon, William Richard- 
son Davie, Joseph Dixon, William Lenoir, Joseph McDowell, James 
Holland, and William Porter. 

A SITE CHOSEN. 

At a meeting of the board of trustees held in Newbern on January 
2, 1792, a committee was appointed " to view and examine the most eli- 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 55 

gible situations whereon to fix the University in the counties of Wake, 
Franklin, Warren, Orange, Granville, Chatham, and Johnston." 

The trustees met in Hillsborough August 1, 1792, to decide on a loca- 
tion and to provide for the erection of buildings. On August 3 ballots 
were taken for the selection of a point the centre of a circle of 15 miles 
radius, within which the University should be located, the place to be 
determined by a committee of the board constituted of one member from 
each judicial district. The fact that the charter provided that the site 
should not be within five miles of the permanent seat of government or 
any courthouse, prevented any of the leading towns from being chosen. 
Many places were put in nomination, but finally Oypritz Bridge, over 
New Hope Eiver, in Chatham County, was selected as the point within 
15 miles of which the university buildings should be placed. 

On November 1, 1792, the committee met at Pittsborough, Chatham 
County, to make a final decision as to location. Several handsome 
offers of land and money were made to secure the election. Eleven 
hundred and eighty acres were offered at a place called New Hope 
Chapel Hill, and on the 9th of November 4;he committee decided in its 
favor by a unanimous vote. 

The trustees at their next meeting ratified the report of the above 
committee. On motion of Governor Davie commissioners were ap- 
pointed to lay off a town and superintend the erection of university 
buildings. It was provided that the first to be erected should accom- 
modate fifty students, the cost not to exceed $5,000. 

LOCATION AND BUILDINGS. 

The University is located in Chapel Hill, Orange County, twenty- 
eight miles from Raleigh, the capital of the State. In colonial times a 
chapel of the Church of England was built there, which was known as 
New Hope Chapel Hill, and from this circumstance the village takes 
its name. 

The location was wisely chosen. It is not far from the geographical 
centre of the State, and is noted for its beauty and healthfulness. One 
can scarce imagine a more inviting spot than the campus. The build- 
ings are surrounded by a grove of old forest trees, chiefly oak and 
hickory, which completely hide them from the rest of the village. The 
grounds, about 50 acres, are beautifully undulating. Adjoining the 
campus is a magnificent forest of several hundred acres. Here the 
young academic may find that monastic quiet and seclusion which used 
to be thought so essential to student life. 

The village of Chapel Hill was laid off, the first lots sold, and the 
corner-stone of the old east building was laid on the 12th day of Octo- 
ber, 1793. 

President Battle, in the address before the alumni in 1881, said : " We 
have fortunately an account of the proceedings of this day, so mem- 
orable, written by Davie himself, the chief actor. I will endeavor to 



56 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

take the veil off this picture of long ago, and wipe off the dust which 
obscures it. 

"The Chapel Hill of eighty-eight years ago was vastly different from 
the Chapel Hill of to-day. It was covered with a primeval growth of 
forest trees, with only one or two settlements and a few acres of clear- 
ing. Even the trees on the East and West avenue, named by the Fac- 
ulty, in recognition of the wise and skilful superintendence of the ex- 
tensive repairs of our buildings prior to the re-opening in 1875, Cam- 
eron, after our president [of the association], were still erect. The 
sweet-gums and dog- woods and maples were relieving in the autumnal 
sun, with their russet and golden hues, the general green of the forest. 
A long procession of people for the first time are marching along the 
narrow road, afterwards to be widened into a noble avenue. Many of 
them are clad in the striking, typical insignia of the Masonic fraternity, 
their Grand Master arrayed in the full decorations of his rank. They 
march with military tread, because most of them have seen service, 
many of them scarred with wounds of horrid war. Their faces are 
serious, for they feel that t&ey are engaged in a great work. They are 
proceeding to lay the foundations of an institution which, for weal or 
woe, is to shape the minds of thousands of unborn children ; whose in- 
fluence would be felt more and more, ever widening and deepening as 
the years roll on, as one of the great forces of civilization. * * * 

"The tall, commanding figure most conspicuous, in the Grand Master's 
regalia, is that of William Eichardson Davie. He is no common man. 
He had been a gallant cavalry officer in the Revolution. He had been 
a strong staff on which Greene had leaned. He had been conspicuous 
in civil pursuits, an able lawyer, an orator of vast influence. With 
Washington and Franklin and other great men he had assisted in evolv- 
ing the grandest Government of all ages — the American Union — out 
of an ill-governed and disintegrating confederacy. He was beyond his 
times in the advocacy of a broad, generous education. His portrait 
has been drawn by a masterly hand, Judge Archibald Murphey, one of 
the most progressive and scholarly men our State has known. In his 
speech before the two societies at Chapel Hill he says: i Davie was a 
tall, elegant man in his person, graceful and commanding in his man- 
ners. His voice was mellow and adapted to the expression of every pas- 
sion; his mind comprehensive yet slow in its operations, when compared 
with his great rival [Alfred Moore] ; his style was magnificent and 
flowing; he had a greatness of manner in public speaking which suited 
his style, and gave to his speeches an imposing effect. He was a labori- 
ous student, arranged his discourses with care, and, where the subject 
merited his genius, poured forth a torrent of eloquence that astonished 
and enraptured his audience.' 

" Judge Murphey says : ' I was present in the House of Commons 
when Davie addressed that body upon the bill granting a loan of money 
to the trustees for erecting the buildings of the University, and although 



UNIVERSITY^ OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



57 



more than thirty years have since elapsed, I have the most vivid recol- 
lection of the greatness of his manner and the powers of his eloquence 
on that occasion. 7 General Davie was afterwards Governor of the State; 
an envoy of the United States to the court of France. I find him styled 
in the journal of the University, in 1810, i the founder of the University ,' 
and he well deserved the title." 1 

Other trustees present on this occasion were Alfred Moore, after- 
wards a judge of the Supreme Court of the United States; William 
H. Hill, member of Congress ; John Haywood, for forty years treas- 
urer of the State; Alexander Mebane, member of Congress; Thomas 
Blount, member of Congress ; John Williams, one of the three judges 
first appointed under the State Constitution of 1776; Frederick Hargett, 
State Senator ; and Dr. Samuel E. McCorkle, one of the most noted 
teachers in the State. 

Dr. McCorkle delivered the address on the occasion. The report of 
it which has been preserved is evidence* that the high estimate which 
was placed on his ability by his contemporaries was well deserved. 

The 12th of October is annually observed as " Foundation or Uni- 
versity Day," when an address is delivered by some well-known 
alumnus. 



Campus and Buildings 

OF THE 

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 




10 







1. Smith Hall,— Library . 

2. South Building. 

3. Gerrard Hall-Chapel. 

4. Memorial Hall. 

5. New East Building. 

6. Old' East " 

7. Old West 

8. New West " 

9. Person Hall,—Chem. Building. 
10. Gymnasium. 



Proceedings of the Alumni Association, 1881, pp. 22-23. 



58 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

The university buildings are ten in number. The following list, fur- 
nished the writer by President Battle, gives the dates of erection, to- 
gether with the purposes for which they are now used : 

1,2. Old east (1795) and old west (1826) buildings, each three stories, 36 by 120 
feet, used for dormitories, with the exception of two rooms about 36 feet square in 
each, used, one as a museum, the others for lecture-rooms. 

3. Person Hall (1796), 36 by 54 feet, one story, once used for religious as well as 
other exercises, hence often called " Old Chapel." It is now the lecture room of the 
professor of chemistry, and contains also the industrial museum. A chemical labora- 
tory 70 by 30 feet, has been recently added to this building. 

4. South building (1814), three stories, 50 by 116 feet, used for dormitories, except 
two rooms 28 by 36, and three rooms 20 by 30, of which one is set apart for the Young 
Men's Christian Association and the others for lecture-halls. 

5. Gerrard Hall (1827), 45 by 66 feet, one story, used for religious as well as gen- 
eral exercises, hence often called "New Chapel." 

6. Smith Hall (1852), 35 by 122 feet, one and a half-story. The basement is divided 
into a qualitative and quantitative laboratory. The main room above contains the 
University library. 

7,8. New east (1859) and new west (1859) buildings, the former four, the latter 
three stories, each 40 by 116 feet. The former has four lecture and laboratory halls, 
the hall of the Philanthropic Literary Society, established 1795, and the Philan- 
thropic library, each 36 by 54 feet. The latter has three lecture and laboratory halls, 
and the hall of the Dialectic Literary Society, established 1795, and the Dialectic 
library, each 36 by 54 feet. Dormitories are in both of these buildings. 

9. The University Memorial Hall (1885), a very handsome design for an audi- 
torium. It is 136 by 128 feet, with a ceiling 52 feet high. It has 2,000 seats on the 
floor, 200 chairs on the rostrum and 250 chairs in the music gallery. On the walls are 
many marble tablets commemorating the eminent officers and alumni of the Uni- 
versity. On four large tablets are the names of all the sons of the instituti on who 
lost their lives in the Civil War. 

10. Gymnasium Hall (1885), 110 by 45 feet, one story, is fitted up with the most ap- 
proved appliances for physical culture. 

The total value of the lands and buildings is estimated at over 
$350,000. 

ENDOWMENT AND INCOME. 

An act entitled a An act for raising a fund for erecting the buildings, 
and for the support of the University of North Carolina," was passed 
by the General Assembly in 1789. 

This endowed the institution with all the arrearages due to the State 
from receiving officers up to the 1st of January, 1783, and with all 
property that had theretofore, or should thereafter, escheat to the State. 
This grant of escheats, though not of immediate was finally, by the 
energy and good management of the trustees, of great value. This, with 
private benefactions, constituted the fund for the erection of buildings 
and the principal part of the endowment. 

At the first meeting of the board of trustees, held in Fayetteville, 
November, 15, 1790, James Hogg, Esq., in behalf of Colonel Benjamin 
Smith (who had been an aid of General Washington and subsequently 
Governor of the State), o i Brunswick County, presented the University 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 59 

with 20,000 acres of land located in Obion County, Tennessee. About 
the year 1835 this land was sold for $14,000. 

In 1791 the General Assembly voted a loan of $10,000, which was 
afterwards converted into a gift. 

On the location of the University in 1792 the citizens of Chapel Hill 
presented $1,596 in cash and 1,180 acres of land. After reserving suffi- 
cient land for the institution, $3,068 were realized from the sale of lots 
'in the village. 

In 1797 Major Charles Gerrard, of Edgecombe County, gave 1,300 
acres of land, from the sale of which about $40,000 were realized. 

In 1797 General Thomas Person, the old chief of the "Kegulators," 
gave $1,025 in cash towards the erection of the buildings. 

The gifts of Smith, Gerrard, and Person were the earliest, and for that 
reason the most important benefactions to the University. 

In 1803, $5,080, the profits of two lotteries granted by law, were added 
to the funds of the institution. 

The following extract from a memorial presented to the General As- 
sembly in 1867, by Governor Jonathan Worth, in behalf of the trustees 
of the University, shows the condition of the endowment at that time : 

u The moneyed endowment on December 10, 1862, was ascertained 
to be, over and above its liabilities, $148,520.26. This endowment was 
derived from escheated and derelict property and remnants of doubtful 
debts transferred to the institution by the charter ; by a direct grant 
from the public treasury of $10,000 in 1791 ; from the gift in 1789 of 
20.000 acres of Tennessee land, by the late Governor Smith ; a still 
more valuable donation by the late Major Charles Gerrard, and by 
smaller gifts from hundreds of patriotic men and women in every sec- 
tion of the State. 

" The General Assembly, in February, 1859, chartered the bank of 
North Carolina and, with a view to promote the interests of the Uni- 
versity, provided in the second section ' that the State shall be entitled 
to subscribe the amount of the literary fund now invested in the bank 
of the State as part of the capital stock, and the trustees of the Uni- 
versity of North Carolina also, as part thereof, a sum not exceeding 
$200,000.' The trustees made the subscription accordingly. The Gen- 
eral Assembly of 1860-61 and the convention of 1861-62 secured an ar- 
rangement with the several banks of the State which subjected all their 
available means to public control. The convention of 1S65, on October 
19th, repudiated the War debt thus created, broke the bank in whose 
stock the funds of the University were invested, annihilated, and more 
than annihilated, the entire moneyed endowment of the University. 

" The General Assembly, at the last session, appropriated $7,000 for 
the temporary relief of the institution, and this sum, together with the 
above-mentioned sum of $10,000, making the aggregate amount of 
$17,000, are the only direct grants ever made from the public treas- 
ury." 



60 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

Ill 1807 the General Assembly transferred to the University the land 
scrip granted by the General Government, a history of which is sub- 
joined. 

The General Assembly, in 1881, voted an annual appropriation of 
$5,000, which in 1885 was increased to $20,000. This, added to the in- 
terest paid on the certificate of indebtedness issued for the land scrip, 
gives to the University an annual appropriation of $27,500 from the 
State treasury. 

THE LAND-SCRIP FUND. 

The General Government, by an act approved July 2, 1862, granted 
to the several States and Territories land scvip to the amount of 30,000 
acres for each Senator and Eepresentative in Congress, in trust, to be 
applied to the endowment and maintenance of one or more colleges, 
"the leading object of which should be, without excluding other liter- 
ary and scientific studies (and including military tactics), to teach such 
branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic 
arts, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the in- 
dustrial classes." 

Among the conditions of the grant were these : " If the principal or 
the interest of the fund should, by any action or contingencies, be di- 
minished or lost," the State should restore it ; if the college should not 
be established, the State should repay to the General Government the 
entire amount of the sales of the scrip ; and that no greater expenditure 
than 10 per cent, of the fund should be made for the purchase of lands, 
erection of buildings, etc. ; the remainder of the fund to be vested in 
some safe stock, yielding not less than 5 per cent, per annum, and the 
amount thus funded to be preserved intact and intangible forever. 

By a joint resolution of the General Assembly, adopted February 22, 

1866, North Carolina's quota of 270,000 acres of scrip was accepted in 
behalf of the State. By an act of the Legislature, passed February 11, 

1867, this scrip was transferred to the trustees of the University of 
North Carolina to be used by them in accordance with the terms of the 
grant ; at the same time it was provided that the commissioners of each 
county should have the authority to select and have at all times in the 
University one student from the county, without the necessary means 
to defray his expenses, who should receive tuition and room rent free. 

The trustees sold the scrip at the then market price, 50 cents per 
acre, realizing $135,000. Of this $10,000 were used for building pur- 
poses, etc. 

In 1 868 a new board of trustees came into office under the recon- 
struction acts, and the land-scrip fund., $125,000, passed into their 
hands. This fund their treasurer invested in North Carolina securi- 
ties, part of which were valid, but bearing no interest. The larger 
part was in special-tax bonds, which the General Assembly declared to 
be void and worthless, owing to the illegality of their issue. 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 61 

In 1874, the trustees appointed in 1868 having been removed by an 
amendment to the Constitution, a board of trustees was elected by the 
General Assembly. This board reported on the condition of the fund, 
and asked the assistance of the Legislature in carrying out the provis- 
ions under which the scrip had been accepted by the State. The General 
Assemby of 1874-75 directed the State treasurer to issue to the trustees 
of the University a certificate of indebtedness for $125,000, bearing in- 
terest from January 1, 1875, at 6 per cent., payable semi-annually. 

By act of the General Assembly, session of 18S7, it was ordered that 
the interest arising from this fund should be transferred from the Uni- 
versity to the College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts as soon as 
the latter should be ready to begin the work of instruction. 

PLAN OF EDUCATION. 

The first action taken by the trustees looking towards the literary 
character of the University was the adoption of a report, submitted by 
Samuel McCorkle at a meeting of the board held at Pills borough, in No- 
vember, 1792. This report is interesting and valuable, as showing what 
studies these early promoters of the institution thought most essential 
in a liberal education. It provided that on the opening of the Univer- 
sity the attention of the student should be confined to the following 
subjects: "The study of languages, particularly the English; the ac- 
quirement of historical knowledge, ancient and modern ; the study of 
belles-lettres, mathematics, and natural philosophy ; the improvement 
of the intellectual powers, including a rational system of logic and moral 
philosophy ; information in botany, to which should be added a com- 
plete knowledge in the theory and practice of agriculture best suited to 
the climate and soils of this State ; the principles of architecture." It 
will be seen from this that it was intended to provide a liberal and com- 
prehensive curriculum. Both literature and science were to be pro- 
vided for, and the course here outlined will compare favorably with that 
provided in the colleges of to-day. 

The report further recommended " that steps be taken to procure ap- 
paratus for experimental philosophy and astronomy. In this they [the 
committee] would include a set of globes, barometers, thermometers, 
microscope, telescope, quadrant, prismatic glass, air pump, and an elec- 
trical machine. A library, your committee are also of opinion, should be 
provided, but the choice of books will perhaps come more immediately 
within the province of the faculty of the University." More liberal ideas 
of what was requisite for a well-rounded education could not have been 
expected at that early day. 

ELECTION OF A PROFESSOR OF HUMANITY. 

The committee appointed by the trustees to prepare a " plan of edu- 
cation" reported December 21, 1793. The report specified that the ex- 
ercises of the institution should commence on January 15, 1795; that 



62 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

the first commencement should take place on July 10 following, to be 
succeeded by a vacation of one week only, and that the students should 
live at commons. Tuition in the English department was fixed at $8 
per annum ; for instruction in the Latin, Greek, and French languages 
tuition was $12.50; and for the higher branches of science it was $15. 
The committee recommended that one person be employed under whose 
care the University should be placed. He was to be styled " Professor 
of Humanity," aud to receive a salary of $300 per session and two-thirds 
of all tuition fees. An assistant was to be appointed at a salary of $200 
aud one-third of the tuition money. Neither of these was to be regarded 
as having any right or claim to the presidency. The report was adopted. 
The election of teachers was postponed until January 10, 1794, when 
the Eev. David Kerr, of Fayetteville, was chosen "Professor of Hu- 
manity." 

OPENING OF THE UNIVERSITY. 

The University was opened for students in February, 1795, and from 
that time to this it has been the recognized head of the higher education 
in North Carolina. It is one of the few institutions of the State which 
has traditions reaching back to the foundation of the Government. 
Truly, it may be called the child of the State, and its history is insepara- 
bly connected with that of the parent. Its influence in North Carolina 
can not be estimated .; nor has this influence been confined within the 
limits of the State, but especially has it been felt in the Southern and 
South-western States. It is doubtful whether any other university in 
this country can show a list of alumni of which so large a percentage 
has achieved so many and such honorable successes in all the avenues 
of life. It would be difficult to name a place of trust or honor within the 
gift of the people of the State or nation that has not been filled by an 
alumnus of the institution, and thus its history becomes an integral part 
of the history of the higher education in the United States. To confirm 
this statement it is only necessary to mention the names of James K. 
Polk, William R. King, John Branch, John Y. Mason, William A, 
Graham, Thomas H. Benton, Willie P. Mangum, Aaron V. Brown, 
Jacob Thompson, Judges Pearson, Moore, and Dick, and Bishops Green, 
Otey, Polk, and Hawks. Scores of others whom the State and nation 
has honored could be named. It is a pleasant duty to trace the develop- 
ment of such an institution, and its history will now be considered. 

FIRST REGULATIONS, 1795. 

On the opening of the University, in February, 1795, it was provided 
by the trustees that there should be four literary classes entered upon 
annually, distinguished by the appellation of first, second, third, and 
fourth. In order to enter a higher class it was uecessary to pass an ex- 
amination on the studies of the preceding class. 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 63 

To enter the first class the applicant was required to " pass a com- 
petent examination" on Caesar's Commentaries, Sallust, Ovid or Virgil, 
"" or other Latin books equivalent," and the Greek grammar. * This class 
was to devote the year to the study of English grammar, Eoman an- 
tiquities, and the Latin classics. The second class studied arithmetic, 
book-keeping, geography, Grecian antiquities, and Greek classics. The 
third class devoted the whole time to mathematics, including geometry, 
surveying, navigation, algebra, natural philosophy, and astronomy. 
The fourth class had logic, moral philosophy, principles of civil govern- 
ment, chronology, history, ancient and modern, the belles-lettres, " and 
the revisal of whatsoever may appear necessary to the officers of the 
University.' 7 It was also provided that those who wished to study only 
the sciences and the English branches " be either formed into a class 
called the scientific class, or else arranged with some of the literary 
classes when they shall be studying the sciences." In addition to the 
annual examinations, three quarterly examinations were given. 

The students were required to attend daily both morning and even- 
ing prayers, morning prayers being held at sunrise. From then until 8 
o'clock the time was devoted to study. One hour was given to breakfast. 
Then followed three hours of study and recitations. After an intermis- 
sion of two hours came another period of work, which lasted till 5 o'clock. 
Evening prayers were then held, and the student was allowed his free- 
dom from that time till 8 o'clock, when he was required to repair to his 
lodgings, which were not to be left without the consent of a teacher 
till prayers the next morning. A monitor was appointed for each class, 
who reported absences and disorderly conduct. 

Every Saturday morning the students were required to speak, read, 
and exhibit compositions, the afternoon being given them for recreation. 

From the opening until about the close of the Caldwell administration 
there was a steward's hall connected with the University, and the stu- 
dents " boarded at commons," being seated at the table according to 
classes. The following picture of student life is taken from an address 
delivered at the University in 1859 by Dr. William Hooper, who entered 
that institution in 1804. He said : " Coarse corn bread was the staple 
food. At dinner the only meat was a fat middling of bacon, surmount- 
ing a pile of cole- worts $ and the first thing after grace was said (and 
sometimes before) was for one man, by a single horizontal sweep of his 
knife, to separate the ribs and lean from the fat, monopolize all the first 
to himself, and leave the remainder for his fellows. At breakfast we 
had wheat bread and butter and coffee. Our supper was coffee and the 
corn bread left at dinner, without butter. I remember the shouts of re- 
joicing when we had assembled at the door, and some one jumping up 
and looking in at the window, made proclamation : i Wheat bread for 
supper, boys !' And that wheat bread, over which such rejoicings were 
raised, believe me, gentlemen and ladies, was manufactured out of what 



61 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

we call seconds, or, as some term it, grudgeons. You will not wonder 
if, after such a supper, most of the students welcomed the approach of 
night, as beasts of prey, that they might go a-prowling and seize upon 
everything eatable within the compass of one or two miles; for, asltold 
you, oar boys were following the laws of Lycurgus. Nothing was se- 
cure from the devouring torrent. Beehives, though guarded by a thou- 
sand stings, all feathered tenants of the roost, watermelon and potato 
patches, roasting ears, etc. — in fine, everything that could appease hun- 
ger was found missing in the morning. These marauding parties at 
night were often wound up with setting the village to rights." Dr. 
Hooper then relates some amusing and characteristic student exploits. 

THE FIRST PROFESSORS. 

At the opening of the University no president was appointed. As 
has been before noted, the Rev. David Kerr, a graduate of Trinity 
College, Dublin, who had been conducting a classical school at Fayette- 
ville, N. C, was elected " Professor of Humanity '' and had the general 
management of the institution. He had charge of the department of 
ancient languages. Mr. Charles W. Harris, a citizen of the State and 
a graduate of Princeton, was appointed professor of mathematics. Mr. 
Samuel A. Holmes had charge of the preparatory department. 

In a few years the entire personnel of the faculty had changed. In 
1796 Mr. Kerr resigned. He demitted the ministry, removed to Mis- 
sissippi, and began the practice of law. In 1802 he was appointed to a 
judgeship in that Territory by President Jefferson. After the resigna- 
tion of his professorship in 1798, Mr. Harris entered upon the practice 
of law, and before his death in 1803 he had won an enviable reputation 
in his profession. He was regarded as one of the most promising young 
men in the State. The last of the trio, Mr. Holmes, resigned in 1798. 

Mr. Harris was succeeded in the professorship of mathematics by the 
Rev. Joseph Caldwell, whom he had known at Princeton. Mr. Cald- 
well became first professor, and, from this time till his death in 1835, 
his history is a part of that of the University. 

AN INTERESTING LETTER. 

The writer, while exploiting the manuscript records of the University, 
came across some correspondence of Prof. Charles W. Harris, which 
shows the practical tendency of the higher education, gives an insight 
into the workings of the University, and pictures the state of society 
at Chapel Hill at that time. 

The letter, from which the following extract is taken, is addressed to 
Dr. Charles Harris, Cabarrus County, and is dated u University, April 
10, 1795." Professor Harris says : 

"We have begun to introduce, by degrees, the regulations of the 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 65 

University, and as yet have not been disappointed. There is one class 
in Natural Philosophy and Geography, and four in the Languages. 

" The Constitution of this college is on a more liberal plan than that 
of any other in America, and by the amendments which I think it will 
receive at the next meeting of the trustees, its usefulness will probably 
be much promoted. The notion that true learning consists rather in 
exercising the reasoning faculties and laying up a store of useful knowl- 
edge, than in overloading the memory with words of dead languages, is 
becoming daily more prevalent. It appears hard to deny a young gen- 
tleman the honour of a college after he has with much labour and pain- 
ful attention acquired a competent knowledge of the Sciences, of com- 
posing and speaking with propriety in his own language, and has conned 
the first principles of whatever might render him useful or creditable 
i 1 the world, merely because he could not read a language two thou- 
sand years old. Though the laws at present require that the Latin and 
Greek be understood by a graduate, they will in all probability be mit- 
igated in their effect. These old forms which have been sanctioned by 
time but not by utility ought to be dispensed with. I have lately found 
many good hints on education in a book entitled the rights of woman — 
a book of very great merit, the production of an original genius, and 
penned in such a strong, manly style that you would scarcely believe it 
to be the work of a woman. For we are taught by many able writers 
and tolerably accurate observers of mankind that the natural weakness 
of a woman's body extends to her mind and becomes characteristic of 
her thoughts and words as well as of her actions. Miss Mary Wollstone- 
craft is the lady born effectually to rectify these misrepresentations from 
which so much evil has sprung. Miss' intention is to bring about a total 
reform in the education of women, but she takes occasion to speak of 
the error in the present plan of teaching young men and boys in Europe. 
* The memory,' says she, 4s loaded with unintelligible words to make a 
show of, without the understanding acquiring any distinct idea; but 
only that education deserves emphatically to be termed cultivation of 
mind, which teaches young people how to begin to think.' She effect- 
ually overthrows Chesterfield's plan of bringing up boys. The amend- 
ments which she proposes are two numerous to be detailed in a letter, 
but are such as do the greatest honour to the authoress and may be ben. 
eficiai to mankind. That there is much wrong in the old manner of 
educating is plain and whatever alterations will be made in our Univer. 
sity will be made by those who can be actuated by no other principle 
than general utility. At present we find much difficulty in procuring 
books ; the trustees have ordered two hundred dollars to be expended 
for that purpose, but it is very uncertain when the books will arrive. 
Dr. Williamson is commissioned to purchase and he is so totally en- 
gaged about his own book which he is preparing for the press, that he 
may forget others of less importance. Col. More presented us with 
17037— No. 2 5 



66 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

globes; Mr. Beneham with an air pump as soon as it can be procured. 
We will shortly have an electrical machine and other trifles. 

"Our society is not so good at this place as we could wish. My only 
resort is to Mr. Kerr, who makes ample amends to me for the want of 
any other. He is a violent Republican and is continually deprecating 
the aristocratical principles which have lately prevailed much in our 
Executive." 

FIRST PURCHASE OF BOOKS AND APPARATUS. 

Early in 1795 Dr. Hugh Williamson; author of a history of North 
Carolina, was requested by the trustees to invest $200 in books for the 
University. This he did, purchasing principally Greek and Latin works, 
lexicons, etc. 

On December 4, 1795, the trustees voted an annual appropriation of 
$50 for the purchase of books. 

The trustees, on December 7, 1795, instructed Professor Kerr to have 
an air-pump, condenser, microscope, lenses, concave mirror, loadstones, 
magnets, phials for an electrical machine, and a set of surveying instru- 
ments purchased. 

During the first years of the institution a number of books and some 
apparatus for the scientific departments were given by individuals. 
This policy of individual contributions has continued to the present 
time. 

The first large purchase of books and apparatus was made in the first 
quarter of this century. 

1796. 

On December 9, 1796, the committee appointed by the trustees to 
prepare and digest a plan of education made its report, which was adop- 
ted. The following is an outline of the system introduced : 

The students of the institution were "divided into a Preparatory 
School, and the Professorships of the University." 

In the preparatory school the English language was " taught gram- 
matically on the plan of Webster's and South's Grammars." Thorough 
instruction in arithmetic was provided. Geography was taught on the 
plan of Guthrie. French and Latin were required, and before the stu- 
dent could enter the University the grammars of these languages had 
to be mastered and several standard authors in each read. The study 
of Roman antiquities was required. Greek was optional, but to enter 
the University class on this, it was necessary that the student should be 
able to read and translate the Gospels correctly. 

Instruction in the University was given in the following schools, called 
"professorships," viz : 

I. Rhetoric and belles-lettres. — Rhetoric on the plan of Sheridan; belles-lettres on 
the plan of Blair and Rollin. 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA 67 

II. Moral and political philosophy and history. — The following text-books were used: 
Paley's Moral and Political Philosophy ; Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws ; Adams's 
Defence; De Lolme on the English Constitution; the Constitution of the United 
States; Vattel's Law of Nations ; Burlamaqui's Principles of National and Political 
Law; Priestley's Lectures on History ; Federal Policy; Millot's Ancient and Modern 
History; Hume's History of England with Smollett's continuation; Chronology on 
the most approved plan. 

III. Natural philosophy. —This subject was taught under the following heads: Gen- 
eral properties of matter ; law^s of motion ; mechanical powers ; hydrostatics ; hy- 
draulics; pneumatics; optics; electricity ; magnetism; geography; the use of globes; 

.the geometrical, political, and commercial relations of the different nations of the 
earth ; astronomy on the plan of Ferguson. 

IV. Mathematics.— -The required course embraced algebra, geometry, trigonometry, 
and the application of trigonometry to the mensuration of heights and distances, of 
surfaces and solids, and surveying and navigation. In addition to the above, if de- 
sired, instruction was furnished in spherical trigonometry, conic sections, and in the 
other higher branches of the science. 

Y. Languages. — Extended courses were provided in the modern and ancient lan- 
guages. The principal Latin authorities were Virgil, Cicero, and Horace ; in Greek, 
selections were made from the works of Homer, Lucian, and Xenophon. Prose com- 
position in these languages was required. 

The trustees, at their meeting on December 9, 1796, changed the above schedule of 
studies by no longer requiring the study of geography in the preparatory department, 
and Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws, Vattel's Law of Nations, and Hume's History of 
England with Smollett's continuation, in the Universi ty ; though we find that the use 
of both Vattel and Montesquieu was continued. About this time Nicholson's As- 
tronomy was substituted in the jdace of Ferguson's. 

The greatest attention was given to the study of the English language, mathe- 
matics, and political science, and previous to 1800 the degree of Bachelor of Arts was 
conferred on passing " an approved examination in the English language and the 
sciences." It was then required that the course in Latin should also be completed 
before this degree would be conferred. In 1801 it was provided that after February 
1, 1802, no one should be admitted to this degree "unless he shall have acquired a 
competent knowledge of either the Greek or French language." To enter the Fresh- 
man class, the candidate had to pass an examination on either Greek or French equiva- 
lent to that required in Latin. In July, 1804, it was enacted that no student should 
be admitted to a degree without having taken the course in Greek, exceptions being 
made in the case of those then studying for degrees. 

THE FIRST GRADUATES. 

The first to be enrolled as a student of the University was Mr. Hin- 
ton James, of Wilmington, N. O., who entered February 12, 1795. 

During the first session forty-one students were enrolled, and in 1796 
the attendance reached one hundred. 

The commencement first observed was on July 4, 1798, the first de- 
grees (Bachelor of Arts) being conferred on that occasion. The gradu- 
ating class numbered seven, viz: Samuel Hiuton, William Houston, 
Hinton James, Eobert Locke, Alexander Osborne, Edwin Jay Osborne, 
and Adam Springs. From that time till the appointment of a presi- 
dent, in 1804, forty young men were graduated. 



68 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

THE FIRST PRESIDENT, REV. JOSEPH CALDWELL, D. D. 

Dr. Caldwell was of Scotch and French descent. The persecution of 
the Huguenots in France, and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 
caused his maternal grandfather, Lovel, to leave his country and seek 
a home in England. After remaining there a short time he came to 
America and settled on Long Island. His daughter married a Mr. 
Harker, a Presbyterian minister, and their daughter Rachel became the 
wife of Joseph Caldwell, M. D., a native of Ulster, Ireland, and at that 
time a resident of New Jersey. Dr. Caldwell died April 19, 1773, and 
on April 21, the day following his burial, was born the subject of this 
sketch. Mrs. Caldwell was left in poverty, but, assisted by President 
Witherspoon, of Princeton College, she was enabled to give her son a 
good education. He entered Princeton in 1787, and in 1791 took his 
degree with the honorary appointment of Latin salutatory. Soon after 
graduation he became connected with a classical school at Elizabeth- 
town, N. J., and in 1795 he was appointed a tutor in Princeton, which 
position he resigned the following year to accept a professorship in 
the University of North Carolina. As chairman of the faculty, on 
him devolved the duty of outlining the course of study. This being 
the case, and having succeeded a Princeton graduate, it is easy to under- 
stand why the curriculum was modelled after that of the College of New 
Jersey. 

No president was elected until 1804, Dr. Caldwell being promoted to 
that position. By his able management the institution was conducted 
safely through the many difficulties of its infancy, occasioned by a 
meagre endowment and a deficiency of good preparatory schools. 

When Dr. Caldwell came to the University the trustees and the pub- 
lic were prejudiced against the classics, and it is owing to his efforts 
that Greek was finally given just recognition in the curriculum. But 
the greatest service which he rendered to the State and to the Univer- 
sity was the firm stand he took and the influence he wielded in stem- 
ming the tide of infidelity which at one time threatened to engulf the 
State. Rev. Dr. J. Rumple, referring to this period of the University's 
history, says': u Strong bands of sympathy and gratitude united our 
people to the French nation, and as a natural consequence French opin- 
ions and French infidelity rolled like a devastating tide over the land. 
The writings of Voltaire, Volney, and Paine were in the hands of al- 
most all, and the public mind was poisoned. Professor Kerr not only 
demitted his ministerial office, but renounced Christianity. Professor 
Harris, Caldwell's predecessor and friend, was shaken in his faith, and 
at one time agreed that the Bible must be surrendered. Professor 
Holmes, his co-laborer, not only renounced Christianity but openly 
taught that morality and virtue, as well as religion, were merely the 
watchwords of hypocrites. His only gift to the library contained the 
works of Paine. General Davie, a master spirit in the board of trustees, 



• UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 69 

and the acknowledged leader in the Legislature, was deeply imbued 
with infidel principles until reclaimed by the arguments of Caldwell, 
and the number of the trustees that were at that time firm supporters 
of the Bible was few. Dr. Caldwell stood nearly alone in his contest 
against fearful odds, and he deserves the singular honor of having 
fought a terrible battle successfully without noise, and of having won 
a signal victory without sounding the trumpet of triumph. When we 
remember what immense influence is exerted by a University standing 
alone, and manifestly at the head of all the educational institutions of 
the State, it appears impossible to estimate the desolation that would 
be caused by the poisoned stream flowing into hundreds of homes from 
this poisoned fountain." 

Dr. Caldwell's efforts in behalf of the University were ceaseless. The 
institution so grew in reputation and numbers that new buildings had 
to be erected to meet the demands for lecture halls and dormitories. 
In 1811, by personal solicitation, he secured $12,000 for the completion 
of the " south building," which had been commenced in 1798 but had 
remained unfinished for want of funds. 

Now that the University was in a prosperous condition, Dr. Caldwell 
yielded to his inclinations for study, and in 1812 he resigned the presi- 
dency and returned to the chair of mathematics. He now devoted him- 
self to his chair and to the completion of his geometry, which, although 
certain parts of it had been used by his students for several years pre- 
vious, was not published till 1822. 

On the resignation of his successor to the presidency, the Rev. Robert 
Hett Chapman, he again, on December 17, 1816, became president, in 
which position he continued the rest of his life. 

In 1824 the trustees voted an appropriation of $6,000 for the purchase 
of books and apparatus, and sent President Caldwell to Europe for 
this purpose. He remained abroad ten months. On his return the 
University buildings were illuminated, and he was tendered an ovation 
by the students. Mr. Paul C. Cameron, who was then a student at the 
University, says that President Caldwell li returned his thanks for the 
pleasant welcome, and addressed the students with the affection of a 
long-absent father returned to his home and duties. His heart was 
full and his emotions most manifest." 

After his return from this trip Dr. Caldwell, in 1827, built an astro- 
nomical observatory at the University, which was the first in the 
United States, and continued its operation till his death. 1 

In 1830 Dr. Caldwell projected and started the Harbinger, the first 
newspaper ever published at Chapel Hill. It was controlled and edited 
by the Faculty. After a few years its publication ceased. 

He was not only a learned professor and divine, but was also an en- 
thusiastic and efficient advocate of the public schools and the railroad 

1 The Nation, Vol. XL VII, p. 131 (August 16, 1888). 



70 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

Systems of the State. He originated the idea of a railroad from the 
Atlantic through the State to Tennessee, which has since been con- 
structed, opening up the mountain counties to the outside world, and 
uniting all sections of the Commonwealth in bonds of common interests. 

The following, taken from the North American Review of January, 
1821, evidences the influence the University, under the management of 
President Caldwell, was exerting on education in the State : " In an 
ardent and increasing zeal for the establishment of schools and acade- 
mies for several years past, we do not believe North Carolina has been 
outdone by a single State. The academy at Raleigh was founded in 
181U, previously to which there were only two institutions of the kind 
in the State. The number at present is nearly fifty, and is rapidly in- 
creasing. Great pains are taken to procure the best instructors from 
different parts of the country, and we have the best authority for our 
opinion that in no part of the Union are the interests of education 
better understood and under better regulation than in the middle 
counties of North Carolina. The schools for females are particularly 
celebrated, and are much resorted to from Georgia, South Carolina, and 
Virginia. In the year 1816, the number of students at academies within 
the compass of forty miles amounted to more than one thousand. This 
space comprised the counties of Warren, Granville, Orange, Wake, 
Franklin, and two or three others adjoining. All the useful and orna- 
mental branches of knowledge are taught at most of these institutions." 

In his address before the Alumni Association in 1881 President Battle 
quotes the above, and with pardonable pride adds : " In those days the 
University was the only institution for higher learning in North Caro- 
lina, and when we contrast the general darkness in 1795 with the rapid 
improvement as shown by the extract from the North American Review 
in twenty-five years, can not the University say with triumph, i These 
schools were my children ; I am their alma mater — their creative and 
fosterin g author ? ? " 

Besides two or three occasional sermons, Dr. Caldwell published a 
Compendious System of Elementary Geometry, in seven books, to 
which an eighth is added, containing such other propositions as are ele- 
mentary; subjoined is a Treatise on Plain Trigonometry. He published, 
also, in one of the Raleigh newspapers, a series of articles called Let? 
ters of Carlton, which were designed to awaken a spirit of internal im- 
provement in the State, and another series on Popular Education or 
Free Schools. These were republished in a volume about the year 1825. 

Few men have been held in greater esteem while living, or have been 
more reverenced when dead, by a State, than was the first President of 
the University. The imposing shaft to his memory, erected on the 
campus by the alumni, stands a fit testimonial to his valuable services ; 
but the most enduring monument of his power and wisdom is the ad- 
vance which North Carolina made in intelligence and virtue through the 
instrumentality of his labors. 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 71 

The monument bears the following inscriptions: 

In grateful acknowledgment of their obligations to the first President of this Uni- 
versity, Joseph Caldwell, D. D m the President of the United States, the Governor 
of North Carolina, and other Alumni have raised this monument A. D. 1847. 



Born at Lamington, N. J., April 21, 1775. Professor of Mathematics in this Univer- 
sity, 1796. Died at Chapel Hill January 27, 1835. 



He was an early, conspicuous, and devoted advocate of the Common Schools and 
Internal Improvements in North Carolina. 



Near him repose the remains of his beloved wife, Helen Caldwell. 

THE CURRICULUM DURING CALDWELL'S ADMINISTRATION. 

About the beginning of President Caldwell's administration the trus- 
tees ordered that the class studying political science should read De 
Lolme's English Constitution, Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws, the Con- 
stitution of the United States, and the modern constitutions of Europe, 
and " that the other books on civil government and political constitu- 
tions, which by an ordinance of December 4, 1795, formed a part of this 
course, should no longer be considered as doing so." But few changes 
were made in the curriculum first adopted, till on December 19, 1818, it 
was superseded by the following course leading to the degree of Bach- 
elor of Arts : 

In the preparatory school. — Latin grammar; Corderius or Sacra Historia ; iEsop's 
Fables, 25 ; Selectee Vetui ; Cornelius Nepos or Viri Komse ; Mair's Introduction ; 
Caesar's Commentaries ; Prosody ; Ovidi Editii Expungata ; Virgil's Bucolics and six 
books of the iEneid ; Greek grammar; St. John's Gospel and Acts of the Apostles in 
Greek ; Grseca Minora to Lucian's Dialogues. 

Li the college. — Freshman class, first session : Sallust ; Adam's Antiquities ; Grseca 
Minora continued ; elements of ancient and modern geography ; arithmetic ; algebra ; 
English grammar ; composition ; theses ; declamation. Second session : Virgil's Geor- 
gics ; Cicero's Orations; Grseca Majora, first volume; algebra continued; Adam's 
Antiquities ; English grammar ; composition ; declamation ; theses. 

Sophomore class: First session: Grseca Majora continued, first volume; Horace; 
algebra continued; geometry; theses; composition; declamation. Second session: 
Horace continued ; Homer's Iliad ; geometry continued ; geography ; composition ; 
declamation. 

Junior sophistics. — First session : Plain trigonometry ; logarithms ; mensuration of 
heights and distances ; surveying ; spherical trigonometry ; classics ; composition ; 
declamation. Second session : Navigation; conic sections ; fluxions; natural philos- 
ophy; classics; composition; declamation. 

Senior class. — First session: Chemistry; mineralogy; geology; philosophy of 
natural history ; moral philosophy ; Stuart's Essays on the Progess of the Moral and 
Ethical Sciences ; logic ; natural philosophy continued ; Playfair's Essay on the Prog- 
ress of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences; astronomy; classics; English gram- 
mar; composition; declamation. Second session: Chemistry; mineralogy; geology 
continued ; rhetoric ; chemistry ; metaphysics ; classics ; composition ; declamation. 



72 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

In the course here given one can not fail to notice the prominence 
given to classical and mathematical studies and the time devoted to 
composition and the cultivation of oratory. To the latter, more than 
anything* else, is due the fact that such a large proportion of the alumni 
became distinguished in public life. 

THE INFLUENCE OF YALE.— MITCHELL, OLMSTED, AND ANDREWS. 

President Caldwell was assisted by an able corps of instructors. In 
the Faculty were some intellectual giants who not only gave reputa- 
tion to the University, but whose contributions to letters and science 
made them prominent among the learned men of their day. 

Eev. Dr. Elisha Mitchell, who was called from Yale College to the 
University of North Carolina in 1817, was the most noted of all. 

Dr. Mitchell came of a noted New England family — one whose influ- 
ence has been widely felt in religion, science, and politics. He was born 
in Washington, Litchfield County, Conn., August 19, 1793. His father^ 
Abner Mitchell, was a farmer. His mother, Phoebe Eliot, was a de- 
scendant in the fifth generation of John Eliot, the "Apostle to the In- 
dians," and minister of Eoxbury, Mass., from 1632 to 1690. 

Prof. Charles Phillips, in a memoir of his friend and colleague, Dr. 
Mitchell, published in 1858, and from which the data for this sketch are 
principally drawn, says : " He possessed many of the characteristics 
which marked the Eliots, especially of the earlier generations. The 
Eev. Jared Eliot, M. D. and D. D., minister for many years at 
Killingworth, Conn., was Dr. Mitchell's great-grandfather. He was 
distinguished in his own times for his knowledge of history, natural 
philosophy, botany, and mineralogy, while as a theologian he was sound 
in the faith and delighted in the doctrines of gospel grace. Among his 
correspondents were Dr. Franklin and Bishop Berkeley, and in 1762 he 
was honored by the Royal Society of London with a gold medal for a 
valuable discovery in the manufacture of iron. This ancestor, Dr. 
Mitchell closely resembled in many peculiarities of body and soul. 
Both were men of large stature, of great bodily strength, of untiring 
activity, of restless curiosity, of varied and extensive attainments, of 
a quaint and quiet humor, of persevering generosity, and of a well- 
established piety." 

Dr. Mitchell was graduated at Yale in 1813, in the class with Hon. 
George E. Badger, Dr. Denison Olmsted, and others, who afterwards 
became noted as statesmen and scholars. After graduation he accepted 
a position in a male academy at Jamaica, Long Island, which he held 
till the spring of 1815, when he became principal of a female school in 
New London, Conn. From there he was called to Yale as tutor in 1816. 
Dr. Mitchell and Dr. Olmsted were recommended to the trustees of 
the University in 1816, by a son of President Dwight, of Yale, the Rev. 
Sereno E. Dwight, chaplain to the Senate of the United States, through 
Judge William Gaston, then a member of Congress. In 1817 they were 



UNIVERSITY OF ttORTII CAROLINA. 73 

appointed to professorships in the University — Dr. Mitchell to the chair 
of mathematics, and Dr. Olmsted to that of chemistry, then first es- 
tablished in the institution. 

Dr. Mitchell entered upon the discharge of his duties February 1, 
1818, and from that time till his death he was the foremost professor in 
the institution. On the resignation of Dr. Olmsted, in 1825, he was 
transferred to the chair of chemistry, mineralogy, and geology, a posi- 
tion better suited to his tastes and in which he made his reputation for 
scientific scholarship. Dr. Phillips says of him, that "even while a 
professor of mathematics he had frequently indulged his taste for bot- 
any by pedestrian excursions through the country around Ohapei Hill. 
After he took upon himself instruction in chemistry, mineralogy, and 
geology, he extended and multiplied these excursions, so that when he 
died he was known in almost every part of North Carolina, and he left 
no one behind him better acquainted with its mountains, valleys, and 
plains; its birds, beasts, bugs, fishes, and shells; its trees, flowers, vines, 
and mosses ; its rocks, stones, sands, clays, and marls. * * * ■ Nor 
were his accomplishments as a professor confined to his own depart- 
ment. In the ancient languages he was frequently ready and able to 
help a colleague who was prevented from discharging his own duties. 
In the mathematics he would often, at public examinations, propose 
such questions as showed that his earlier love still retained a hold on 
his attention and affections. He was a good writer, and in the depart- 
ment of belles-lettres he was a well-read and instructive critic." He was 
a correspondent of Agassiz and other scientists, and kept himself fully 
abreast of the scientific progress of his times. 

Dr. Mitchell contributed many able articles to the scientific publica- 
tions of his day. He contributed the following interesting papers to 
Silliman's Journal : January, 1830, "A Substitute for Welther's Safety- 
tube," and " The Geology of the Gold Eegions of North Carolina;" Jan- 
uary, 1831, "The Causes of Winds and Storms;" April, 1831, "An Anal 
ysis of the Protogsea of Leibnitz; " July, 1831, a reply to Bedfield's crit- 
icism of his article on winds and storms ; January, 1839, " Observations 
on the Black Mountains in North Carolina." He was the author of a 
manual of chemistry, the second edition of which was passing through 
the press at the time of his death; a manual of geology, illustrated by 
a geological map of North Carolina ; a manual of natural history, and a 
collection of facts and dates respecting the history, geography, etc., of 
the Holy Land. 

When he came to the University the academic staff numbered 4 and 
the students 120. At his death there were 16 professors and 440 stu- 
dents in the institution. 

Dr. Mitchell died a martyr to science, and the incidents of his death 
present a jricture of tragic interest. By observations in 1835, 1838, 
1844, and 1856 he had established the fact that the peaks of the Black 
Mountains, in North Carolina, are the highest east of the Eocky Mount- 



74 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

ains. A controversy arose between him and the Hon. Thomas L. Cling- 
man as to which was the higher, Mount Mitchellor Olingman's Peak, 
named respectively in their honor. In June, 1857, he visited the Black 
Mountains to make further observations in order to fully settle this dis- 
pute, but this was not his only object. Dr. Phillips says : u One object 
before him in 1857 was to collect in a southern latitude corrections for 
barometrical observations on mountain heights. He proposed to con- 
nect the railroad survey across the Blue Bidge, in North Carolina, with 
the top of Mitchell's Peak (Mount Mitchell) by a series of stations dif- 
fering from each other by 500 feet of altitude." On Saturday, June 26, 
1857, he set out alone across the mountains for a settlement on Caney 
River. This was the last time he was ever seen alive. Not returning 
when expected, search was made for him, and on July 8 his body was 
found in a pool of water on the mountain-side, into which he had fallen 
from a precipice some 40 feet above. His remains were taken to Ashe- 
ville and there interred, but it was finally decided to give them sepul- 
ture on Mount Mitchell, and on June 16, 1858, they were buried on the 
highest point of that peak. His death and eminent services to science 
were chronicled by the press throughout the United States. 

In July, 1885, the writer made a pilgrimage to his grave; It is an 
humble mound, inclosed by a wall of rough stones collected on the 
mountains. The surroundings are majestically grand. It has been 
beautifully said that " the green-hued ivy and the many-hued rhododen- 
dron lend their wild beauty to the scene, and the dark-leaved firs spread 
their funeral pall over the spot where he lies.' 7 

The mountain is his monument — he needs no other. 

Denison Olmsted, LL. D. — Probably no other professor of the Uni- 
versity ever achieved so wide a reputation as did Professor Olmsted. 
He was a classmate of Dr. Mitchell at Yale, having entered that insti- 
tution in 1809, and graduating in 1813. For two years he taught in 
New London. In 1815 he was called to Yale as tutor, which position 
he held until his election to the professorship of chemistry in the Uni- 
versity of North Carolina in 1817. 

Under the auspices of the Legislature of North Carolina he began a 
geological survey of the State, which was the first to be undertaken in 
the Union. 

In 1825 he was recalled to Yale as professor of mathematics and 
natural philosophy. After 1835 he was professor of natural philosophy. 
His Natural Philosophy, which is a valuable contribution to science, 
appeared in 1831, and his Astronomy, another important work, in 1839. 

He was one of the earliest advocates of special institutions for the 
professional training of teachers, and he also deserves honorable men- 
tion for his advocacy of improvements in the elementary schools in the 
United States. 

He was born at East Hartford, Connecticut, June 18, 1791, and died 
at New Haven, in that State, May 13, 1859, 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 75 

Ethan Allen Andrews , LL. T).—- Professor Andrews caine to the Uni- 
versity as professor of ancient languages in 1822. He, too, was an 
alumnus of Yale, having been graduated in 1810. The duties of his 
chair were filled with signal ability, and it caused much regret when he 
resigned, in 1828, to accept the professorship of ancient languages in 
the New Haven Gymnasium. In 1829 he established the New Haven 
Institute for Young Ladies. In 1833 he removed to Boston, where he 
succeeded Jacob Abbott as principal of a female school, and also became 
senior editor of the Religious Magazine. In 1839 he returned to New 
Britain, Conn., where he was born April 7, 1787, and began the publi- 
cation of a series of Latin text-books. He died there March 4, 1858. 

These young professors, fresh from Yale, brought new life into the 
institution. Prior to their advent Princeton thought and Princeton 
methods had prevailed to the exclusion of all others. The disciples of 
D wight and Witherspoon worked together in harmony and brought 
about a blending of Yale and Princeton methods. 

THE SECOND PRESIDENT, REV. ROBERT HETT CHAPMAN, D. D. 

On the resignation of President Caldwell, in 1812, Eev. Robert Hett 
Chapman, D. D., a prominent Presbyterian divine, was called to the 
presidency of the University. 

Dr. Chapman was born at Orange, N. J., March 2, 1771, and died 
at Winchester, Ya., June 18, 1833. He was graduated at Princeton 
in 1798, and, after studying theology, was licensed to preach by the 
Presbytery of New York in 1793. For a short time he was a professor 
in Queen's College, New Brunswick. From 1796 to 1799 he was pastor 
at Rahway, N. J., and from 1801 to 1812 he preached at Cambridge, N. 
Y. He accepted the presidency of the University of North Carolina, 
December 16, 1812, resigning it November 23, 1816, to again enter ac- 
tively upon the work of the ministry. As president he continued 
the policy of Dr. Caldwell, his predecessor and successor. After 
leaving the University he held pastorates in North Carolina, Tennessee, 
and Yirginia. 

THE THIRD PRESIDENT, DAVID LOWRY SWAIN, LL. D. 

At the time of President CaldwelFs death the University was firmly 
established, and its influence was gradually being appreciated in other 
States. The high school of 1795 had become one of the foremost colleges 
in the Union. 

In the selection of Dr. CaldwelFs successor the trustees appreciated 
their responsibility. Scholars with more than national reputation were 
presented for the position, but the board of trustees with great una- 
nimity tendered the presidency to the then Governor of the State, 
David Lowry Swain. Although a man of varied acquirements, it was 
not for his scholarship that he was selected, but on account of his per- 



76 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

sonal popularity, his intense devotion to the State, and his acknowl- 
edged executive capacity. 

In Governor Swain were combined the best qualities of the Puritan 
and the Cavalier. His father, George Swain, was of good New England 
stock. George Swain was born in Eoxbury, Mass., in 1763, and on 
coming South he settled in Georgia. He served in the Legislature of 
Georgia rive years, and was a member of the convention which revised 
the Constitution of that State. In 1795 he removed to Buncombe 
County, North Carolina. Soon after this he married Caroline Lowry, 
a widow, whose maiden name was Lane. She was a sister of Joel Lane, 
the founder of the city of Raleigh, and of Joseph Lane, at one time 
United States Senator from Oregon, and Democratic candidate for Vice- 
President of the United States on the ticket with General Breckinridge 
in 1860. 

On January 4, 1801, was born David Lowry Swain. His early educa- 
tion was received at home. At the age of fifteen he was sent to the 
Newton Academy, near Asheville, founded by the Eev. George Newton, 
a Presbyterian clergyman. Senator Z. B. Yance says that this school 
was justly famous in that part of the State, and that many of the prom- 
inent citizens of North Carolina, beyond the Blue Ridge, and of other 
States, were educated, in whole or in part, at that institution. Gover- 
nor B. F. Perry and Hon. Waddy Thompson, of South Carolina, M. 
Patton, R. B. Vance, James Erwin, and other prominent citizens of North 
Carolina, were classmates of young Swain while there. He taught Latin 
at this school for five months. 

He entered the Junior class of the University of North Carolina in 
1821, but, for want of means, he only remained four months. In 1822 
he commenced the study of law in the office of Chief- Justice Taylor, in 
Raleigh, and in December of that year obtained license to practise law. 

He returned to Buncombe County and entered upon the practice of 
his profession. His advancement was rapid. In 1824 he was elected a 
member of the lower house of the Legislature from his county, and was 
continued by successive elections for five years. The Legislature, in 
1829, elected him solicitor of the Edenton circuit. He was elected a 
judge of the Superior Court in 1830. In 1832 he was elected Governor. 
Under the Constitution of 1776, the Governor was elected for only one 
year. Governor Swain was successively re-elected in 1833 and 1834. 
He was a delegate to the convention of 1835, which revised and amended 
the State Constitution, in which he took a prominent part. In 1835 he 
was elected president of the University, which position he held until 
1868. 

Under his energetic and able management, the University made rapid 
and permanent progress. The halls were filled with students from all 
parts of the South, the number at one time reaching nearly five hundred. 
The Faculty was enlarged, and the course of study extended and made 
more thorough. The finances were improved and wisely managed. 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 77 

Several large and handsome buildings were added, ample provision being 
made for lecture rooms, libraries, and society halls. The campus, con- 
taining 50 acres, naturally one of the most beautiful, if not the most 
beautiful college campus in the Union, was inclosed and ornamented by 
walks and shrubbery. 

President Swain was the head of the department of history and politi- 
cal science, and we are told that so brilliant and fascinating were his 
lectures in political economy and constitutional and international law 
that these courses were always largely attended. Such was his reputa- 
tion that many from other States who afterwards became distinguished 
statesmen were influenced to pursue their studies at the University of 
Korth Carolina rather than at older and better-known institutions. 

The then Governor of Korth Carolina, now Senator Zebulon B. Vance, 
in a memorial oration on The Life and Character of Hon. David L. 
Swain, delivered at the University in 1877, said: 

" How well do I remember the many occasions during my sojourn at 
the University when he, as my preceptor, esteeming such influences of 
greater importance to the class than the texts of the lessons, would 
for the time give his whole soul to the stirring up of these generous and 
emulous sentiments in the hearts of his pupils. The very first recita- 
tion in which I ever appeared before him was one such. I shall never, 
never forget it! In 1851 1 entered the University and joined the Senior 
class as an irregular. This first lesson was in constitutional law. A 
single general question was asked and answered as to the subject in 
hand, and then he began to discourse of Chancellor Kent, whose treatise 
we were studying ; from Kent he went to Story, from Story to Mar- 
shall, repeating anecdotes of the great Americans who had framed and 
interpreted our organic law, and touching upon the debate between 
Hayne and Webster. From these he went back and back to the men 
and the times when the great * * * principles of Anglo-Saxon 
liberty were * * * placed one. by one as stones polished by the 
genius of the wise and cemented by the blood of the brave in the walls 
of the temple of human freedom. He told us of the eloquence of Burke, 
of the genius of Chatham ; he took us into the prison of Eliott and 
went with us to the death-bed of Hampden ; into the closet with Coke 
and Sergeant Maynard, and to the forum where Somers spoke : to 
the deck of the Brill where William, the deliverer, stood as he gazed 
upon the shores of England ; to the scaffolds of Sydney and of our own 
glorious Baleigh. Warming as he went with the glowing theme, walk- 
ing up and down the recitation room, which was the library of the 
"old South," with long and awkward strides, heaving those heavy, 
passionate sighs which were always with him the witnesses of deep 
emotion, he would now and then stop, reach down from its shelf a 
volume of some old poet, and read with trembling voice some grand 
and glowing words addressed to man's truest ambition that thrilled 
our souls like a song of the chief musician. A profound silence was 



78 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

evidence of the deep attention of the class, and the hour passed almost 
before we knew it had begun." 

This incident is characteristic of President Swain, as is testified by 
many of his old pupils. 

It was during the administration of President Swain that the State 
Historical Society was founded in January 1844, the University Alumni 
Association organized in 1843, and the University Magazine established 
in March, 1S44. He was eminent for his knowledge of North Carolina 
history and the author of some valuable monographs on Revolutionary 
and ante-Revolutionary periods, several of which were published in the 
University Magazine. 

Under his able and progressive management the University had de- 
veloped into vigorous manhood, but the War, like an untimely frost, 
came and checked its promising career. 

REQUIREMENTS AND COURSES DURING SWAIN'S ADMINISTRATION. 

It was under the administration of President Swain that the Uni- 
versity reached its highest development and prosperity. His predeces- 
sor had laid a broad foundation. Many of those graduated during the 
presidency of Dr. Caldwell had become teachers, and now classical 
schools were established in every section of the State. The prepara- 
tory school in connection with the University was no longer a necessity, 
and we find it quietly dropped. The standard of instruction was 
raised, and the requisites for admission made more stringent. As early 
as 1838, and probably before, candidates for admission into the Fresh- 
man class were required to sustain an approved examination on the 
grammar of the English, Latin, and Greek languages, including Latin 
prosody, Mair's Introduction, or Andrew's Exercises ; Caesar's Com- 
mentaries (five books) ; Ovid's Metamorphoses (Gould's edition — ex- 
tracts from the six books) ; Virgil's Bucolics, and six books of the 
iEneid ; Sallust ; Greek Testament (St. John's Gospel and the Acts of 
the Apostles) ; Grseca Minora or Greek reader ; arithmetic ; algebra, 
through equations of the first degree ; ancient and modern geography. 

In the main, after the remodelling of the curriculum at his accession, 
the requirements in the different departments of the University re- 
mained the same throughout the administration of President Swain. 

The session of 1854-55 is taken as a typical one. The academic staff 
then numbered sixteen. TLe University consisted of eight departments 
and a school for the application of science to the arts, added in 1851, 
with a president and four professors. 

The time required for the completion of the studies of each depart- 
ment, together with the number of recitations given, will enable one to 
form an idea of the relative importance attached to each. The require- 
ments for admission to the Freshman class of the University have al- 
ready been given. 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 79 

In the collegiate classes the requirements were as follows: 

In Latin. — Freshin an class, 166 recitations: Virgil's Georgics, Cicero's Orations, and 
five books of Livy read. Sophomore, 148 recitations : Odes and Satires of Horace, 
Epistles of Horace and Cicero on the Immortality of the Soul. Junior, 57 recitations : 
Cicero de Officiis. 

In Greek. — Freshman class, 167 recitations : Xenophon's Anabasis and one book of 
Herodotus read. Sophomore, 148 recitations : One book of Thucydides, five of Homer's 
Iliad, and Select Orations of Demosthenes. Junior, 54 recitations: Two tragedies of 
Sophocles. Senior, 33 recitations : One Tragedy of Sophocles. 

We find the instructors in these departments complaining that candidates for ad- 
mission are generally deficient in some part of the preparatory studies, especially in 
Latin construction, Greek grammar, Roman and Grecian antiquities, and ancient 
geography, and mythology. At the same time they acknowledge that they are much 
indebted to "the faithful teachers who are laboring to promote classical learning 
by thorough elementary instruction. * * * We trust that our obligations to them 
will be still farther increased ; for on their efforts we must, in a great measure, depend 
for success in elevating the standard of scholarship in the University." 

In history. — Besides the historical works read in Latin and Greek, the following 
were required : Freshman class, 78 recitations : Grecian and Roman antiquities and 
ancient history studied. Junior, 78 recitations : History of the Middle Ages and 
.modern history, with attention to that of England and America. 

The text-books recommended in this department were Bojesen's Greek and Roman 
Antiquities, Weber's Outlines, Tytler's Universal History, and Smith's Lectures on 
Modern History. It was provided that throughout the entire course the classes 
should be guided to the best sources of information on all the more important sub- 
jects of historical inquiry and stimulated from time to time to extend their investiga- 
tions beyond the text-books. 

In French. — Sophomore class, 38 recitations : Levizac's Grammar and Ferrin's 
Fables used. Junior, 76 recitations : Florain's Gonzalve de Cordone and Bossuet's 
Orations. Senior, 35 recitations: Selections from Racine's Tragedies and Moliere's 
Comedies. Throughout the course, lectures were given from time to time on the his- 
tory and character of French literature. 

In logic and rhetoric. — Sophomore class, essays required every third week. Junior, 
3 recitations per week and one original oration from each member during the ses- 
sion. Senior, 4 original orations from each member during the year. The text-books 
used were Whateley's Elements of Logic and Rhetoric, with reference to the works of 
Mill and Campbell, and occasional lectures upon the principles of taste and criticism. 

In mathematics. — The Freshman class had 4 recitations a week, the Sophomore 5, 
and the Junior 4. The text-books used were Pierce's Algebra, Geometry, Trigonom- 
etry, Navigation and Surveying, and Spherical Trigonometry : Church's Analytical 
Geometry, and Differential and Integral Calculus ; Olmsted's Natural Philosophy, 
and Norton's Astronomy. A course of lectures was given in natural philosophy and 
astronomy, illustrated by appropriate experiments. , 

In chemistry, mineralogy, and geology. — Senior class, 3 lectures and 3 recitations in 
each per week. The text-books of Draper, Graham, Regnault, and Silliman were used 
in the course. 

This department was under the direction of the distinguished Dr. Mitchell, who 
was also one of the professors in the School for the Application of Science to the Arts, 
where the studies of this department were taught with great thoroughness. 

In political science and philosophy. — Required in course during the Senior year 
three days per week. Text-books used were Wayland's Political Economy, Story's 
Familiar Exposition of the Constitution, and Kent's Commentaries on American Law, 
Vol. 1; Wayland's Moral Science, Abercrombie's Inquiries concerning the Intellectual 
Powers, and Wayland's Intellectual Philosophy. A course of lectures was also 



80 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

delivered on the history of constitutional law. It was provided that no portion 
of the text-books should be omitted, "but the whole carefully recited, subsequently 
reviewed, and each member of the class separately and rigidly examined on the entire 

system." 

SCHOOL FOR THE APPLICATION OF SCIENCE TO THE ARTS. 

As before stated, iu January, 1854, a f* School for the Application of 
Science to the Arts " was established with Elisha Mitchell, professor of 
chemistry, mineralogy, and geology ; James Phillips, professor of pure 
mathematics and natural philosophy; Charles Phillips, professor of civil 
engineering, and Benjamin S. Hedrick, professor of chemistry applied 
to agriculture and the arts. 

The object of this school was to prepare young men for professional 
life as engineers, artisans, farmers, miners, and physicians. They were 
given both practical and theoretical instruction. The University cata- 
logue for 1854-55 says : "It is judged that this course will secure the 
greatest benefits to the various interests of our community. For, while 
theory without practice is in danger of becoming visionary and unpro- 
ductive — practice without theory may become devoted to isolated efforts, 
or to a barren routine of imitations." 

It was provided that " as this school is an integral part of the Uni- 
versity, candidates for its first degree will be allowed to substitute civil 
engineering or agricultural chemistry for the ancient and modern lan- 
guages, or for international and constitutional law, at their own election, 
but only during the second term of their Senior year. Those students 
of the University who seek for a professional education may leave the 
academic course at the end of the first term of their Senior year and 
devote themselves entirely to their own special studies during a period 
of eighteen months. At the end of six months they will receive the 
degree of Bachelor of Arts along with the rest of their class, and at 
the end of their fifth year the degree of Master of Arts. Instruction will 
be given to others also who are connected with the University only as 
pupils of this school. From them an attendance of two years and a half 
will be required generally, but, as usual, they will be admitted at the 
beginning of their course to such classes as their own acquisitions may 
suit. On completing the required studies these pupils will receive the 
degree of Bachelor of Science." 

To enter the department of civil engineering the student was re- 
quired to stand approved examinations on arithmetic, algebra, geom- 
etry, and plaue and spherical trigonometry, with its application in sur- 
veying, navigation, and in the mensuration of heights and distances. 
The course in this department comprised three years. The text-books 
used were Church's Analytical Geometry, Church's Differential and In- 
tegral Calculus, Davies's Descriptive Geometry, Davies's Shades and 
Shadows, Smith's Mechanics and Engineering, Mahan's Civil Engin- 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 81 

eering, Gillespie on Roads and Railroads, Trantwine, Borden, Loud, etc., 
on Geodesy and Earth. Works. 

Mechanical, topographical, and architectural drawing, both plane and 
isometrical, were taught throughout the course. 

Students in the department for the application of chemistry to agri- 
culture and the arts were instructed in analytical chemistry and its 
application to the analysis of soils and manure, the assaying of soils 
and minerals, the analysis of mineral waters, and the testing of drugs 
and medicines. Daily work in the laboratory was required. 

In addition to the lectures, the following works were required for 
reading and reference : Will's Outlines of Chemical Analysis, Rose's 
Analytical Chemistry, Regnault's Chemistry, Johnston's Agricultural 
Chemistry, Stockhardt's Field Lectures, Plattner's Testing with, the 
Blow-pipe, and Bowman's Medical Chemistry. 

LAW SCHOOL. 

A professorship of law was established in 1846, but the professor 
received no salary from the University ; neither was he .nor were his 
students subject to the ordinary regulations. 

There were two classes, the studen ts of the first or independent class 
having no connection with any other department, and the college class 
consisting of students who were also pursuing their studies in the Uni- 
versity. Tuition in the first class was $50, and in the latter $25 per 
session, all fees being paid to the professors of the department. 

The full course occupied the independent class two years, at the end 
of which the degree of Bachelor of Laws was conferred on those stu- 
dents passing approved examinations. 

The plan of studies comprised Blackstone's Commentaries, Cruise's 
Digest of Real Property, Fearne on Remainders, Iredell on Executors, 
Stephen on Pleading, Chitty's Pleading, Selwyn's Nisi Prius, Smith on 
Contracts, Greenleaf on Evidence, and Adams's Doctrine of Equity, 
together with lectures on the common law, having special reference to 
the legislation and judicial decisions of North Carolina. Moot courts 
were held from time to time, presided over by one of the professors, for 
the discussion of legal questions. 

On the transfer of the University to President Pool and his associates 
in 1868 the law school was abandoned, but on the accession of Presi- 
dent Battle, in 1876, it was reopened with the Hon. William H.Battie, 
LL. D., as professor. In 18S1 the Hon. John Manning became the head 
of this department, which position he has occupied continuously since. 
For the past few years the number of students in this department has 
averaged about twenty-five. 

Besides the University Law School there is only one other regularly 
organized law school in the State, the Dick and Dillard Law School, 
at Greensborough, an excellent institution, 
17037— Ho, 2—G 



82 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

THE CIVIL WAR, 

The War fell upon the University like a thunderbolt. Prosperity was 
shattered and discordant elements introduced which were not harmo- 
nized until years after the close of that eventful struggle. The War and 
the days of reconstruction are the period of the University's distress and 
humiliation, and they constitute the only dark picture in its history. 

After Forth Carolina passed the ordinance of secession and war had 
been declared, both students and professors were eager for the couflict. 
Seven members of the faculty and nearly all the students joined the 
army. They were inspired by patriotic motives, for they believed they 
were fighting for liberty and home. But in all the excitement incident 
to the struggle President Swain was calm and remained faithful to the 
institution over which he had been called to preside. His efforts were 
mainly directed to keep the University open, and it was his boast that 
during the four years of war the college bell never failed in its daily 
calls, and the institution was maintained in full working order. In 
doing this he was fiercely assailed by many who urged that college 
walls should not prove a protection to those whose fortune it was to be 
favored by wealth and influence. But conscious of his own integrity of 
purpose, he did not waver in the course adopted. 

Senator Vance, in the address before referred to, said: "Governor 
Swain appealed to the Confederate government more than once to pre- 
vent the handful of college boys left from being drafted. President 
Davis himself seconded these efforts in the earlier years of the War, de- 
claring that 'the seed corn should not be ground up.' But as the exi- 
gencies of the country increased, this wisdom was lost sight of, the 
collegians were again and again called upon, till at the time of Lee's 
surrender there were but about a dozen here still keeping up the name 
and forms of a college. But even while the village and the University 
were occupied by 4,000 Michigan cavalry, the old bell was rung daily, 
prayers were held, and the University was kept going." 

A ROMANCE OF THE WAR. 

Federal cavalry, under General S- £>• Atkins, took possession of 
Chapel Hill, April 17, 1805. General Sherman, in consequence of a 
visit from President Swain, as a member of the commission to surren- 
der the city of Raleigh, had ordered that the University should be pro- 
tected from pillage and destruction, which was done very effectually. 

General Atkins, while visiting President Swain on official business, 
accidentally saw his daughter ; he afterwards sought her acquaintance, 
addressed her, and was accepted. During the summer her father vis- 
ited General Atkins's home in Illinois and satisfied himself as to his 
character and social standing. Her father's permission having been 
secured, Eleanor Hope Swain, against the protest of friends, married 
the Union General in August, 1865. They now reside in Freeport, 111. 



■ 1 




UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLNIA. 83 

Mrs. Atkins is the only living child of President Swain. No male rep- 
resentative of the family survives. 

President Swain had never entertained extreme views in regard to 
" State rights," and did not permit himself to become embittered against 
the North during the War. Mrs. 0. P. Spencer, a neighbor and familiar 
acquaintance of President Swain, in her Pen and Ink Sketches of the 
University, says : u Governor Swain believed this marriage was but the 
first of many others like it to take place all over the South ; that our 
peace was to flow like a river, and that North and South were coming 
together at once to be more firmly united than ever. He was a saga- 
cious man and accustomed to calculate possibilities very closely and 
accurately, but he did not once dream of the party issues that were to 
spring up and divide the country even more effectually tlian the War, 
nor of the bitterness that was to be engendered and revived." 

This marriage provoked much adverse criticism throughout the State. 
President Swain's course was censured by many, some being alienated 
from the University on account of it ; but now that prejudice has yielded 
to reason, his wisdom in this matter is admitted. Had all been as char- 
itable as he was, the wounds of the War would soon have been healed. 

LAST YEARS OF SWAIN'S ADMINISTRATION. 

Now that the War was over, it was hoped that the University would 
rise to its former prosperity. But it seemed that President Swain had 
lost his hold upon the affections of the people of the State, and in con- 
sequence the institution suffered. His liberal policy had pleased neither 
of the then existing political factions. The leaders of the Eepublican 
party looked upon him with suspicion, and regarded the University as 
" a hot-bed of treason," He had displeased many prominent and influ- 
ential friends of the institution by his willingness to accept the results 
of the War and banish all sectional strife. Many clamored for his re- 
moval. His resignation was tendered in 1867, but was not accepted, 
the reason probably being that the trustees were aware that they were 
soon to be succeeded by a new board of trustees, and they wished to 
throw the responsibility of the reorganization of the University upon 
them. 

In 1868 the State passed under the new Constitution. Tkere was an 
entire change in the State government. The University was placed in 
the hands of a new board of trustees, and one of their first official acts 
was to dismiss the president and Faculty, that they might remodel it on 
a partisan basis. 

President Swain did not long survive this dark hour of the Univer- 
sity. On August 11, 1868, while out driving with a friend near Chapel 
Hill, he was thrown from the buggy and painfully injured. He died 
from the effects of his injuries August 27, following the accident. He 
was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, near Ealeigh. 



84 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

President Swain was an earnest Christian and an honored member 
of the Presbyterian Church. Senator Vance, in referring to his Chris- 
tian character, says: " He was a praying man, and was not ashamed to 
be known as such. He first introduced the practice of opening the regu- 
lar meetings of the faculty with prayer." Truly has it been said that 
" the soil of our State holds the dust ot no son who loved her more or 
served her better." 

RECONSTRUCTION. 

The first acts of the board of trustees, which had been appointed 
upon the adoption of the Constitution of 1868, were unconstitutional 
and condemned by the best citizens of the State. 

They ordered the University to be closed, declared all the chairs 
vacant, and all the professorships abolished. The Constitution of the 
State provides that the University shall be perpetuated and maintained, 
and the charter of the institution expressly states that the members of 
the Faculty shall not be dismissed unless certain specified charges shall 
be proved. 

The larger part of the endowment was unwisely invested and lost, and 
political bias was manifested in all that was done. 

Upon the re-opening of the University in I860, the friends of the insti- 
tution were dissatisfied to find that the late distinguished president and 
his able coadjutors had been succeeded by new and untried men. 

In referring to President Swain and this period of the history of the 
University, Mr. Paul C. Cameron, president of the Alumni Association, 
in an address before that body in 1881, said : 

" The shadows of a dark night were falling round him and his col- 
leagues and the object of his care. A special Providence seemed watch- 
ful to save these old servants of our State University from the humili- 
ation of a painful exile from homes, labors, honors, offices, and altars. 
Professor Mitchell had fallen on rest in the deep and dark chambers of 
the Black Mountain. Professor Phillips had lain down with his harness 
on, upon the rostrum of the chapel, for his long sleep whilst the students 
were assembling for morning prayer. President Swain, in visiting a 
small farm in preparation for the comfort of his small family of old 
servants, is by an accident fatally injured ; lingering a few days his 
useful life and well-rounded labors are closed in charity and kindness 
to all, but with anxious fears for the future of an institution that he had 
loved so long and served so well. He knew that new and unknown 
men would soon be placed in charge. Pleasant is the memory of such 
a man to the good people of North Carolina, and they silently rebuked 
the punishment of a man without a crime, and a Faculty without a stain, 
and in fortitude submitted to the inevitable, and passed their sons to 
the care of the undisturbed institutions of learning of our sister State of 
Virginia." 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 85 

THE FOURTH PRESIDENT, REV. SOLOMON POOL, D. D. 

Eev. Solomon Pool, D. D., became president in 1869. Doubtless he 
had the interest of the University at heart in accepting the position, 
but time has proved that it was unfortunate for him and for the institu- 
tion that he did so. In becoming a member of the Kepublican party 
at the time he did and under the then existing circumstances, he ren- 
dered himself unpopular with some of the best and most influential peo- 
ple in the State — the former friends and supporters of the University. 
The board of trustees, of which Dr. Pool was a member, was regarded 
with disfavor, and the fact that he was its choice did not add to his rep- 
utation. 

Without reputation for broad scholarship or administrative ability, 
without influential friends outside his own party, without any claim 
upon the people of the State, he accepted the presidency of one of the 
leading institutions in the Union. Even though his best efforts were put 
forth in its behalf, yet that his administration was a comparative fail- 
ure is no surprise. It is due Dr. Pool to add that he was the best man 
of his party in the State for the position, and at that time it would have 
been almost, if not quite impossible, for any Eepublican to have suc- 
ceeded in the management of the University. 

During the presidency of Dr. Pool the attendance at any time was 
not more than seventy- five, a large proportion of the students coming 
from the immediate neighborhood of the institution and none from with- 
out the State. The faculty numbered five; all were Eepublicans, and 
two of them were Northern men who had previously been connected 
with institutions for the education of colored people. This, in a measure, 
accounts for the small attendance. The writer is glad to add that the 
day has now come when no man is ostracized in North Carolina on ac- 
count of political convictions, and that some of the most prominent 
physicians and one of the ablest divines in the State are professors in 
Shaw University, an institution in Ealeigh for the higher education of 
the negro in medicine, law, divinity, and letters, and no right-thinking- 
man condemns them for their course. 

After 1870 all exercises were discontinued until the reorganization in 
1875. Dr. Pool continued as nominal president in charge of the Uni- 
versity property until the reopening. 

Dr. Pool is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He 
is a native of Elizabeth City, K. C. In 1849, at the age of seven- 
teen, he entered the University, where he was graduated in 1853. In 
December, 1853, he was elected tutor of mathematics in his alma mater, 
and in 1860 he was promoted to the adjunct professorship of pure 
mathematics, which position he held until 1866, when he accepted a 
Government position in the revenue service. He was president of the 
University from 1869 to 1875. After his connection with that institu- 
tion was severed, he was for a short time principal of a school in Gary, 



M> HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA 

but he now devotes all bis time to tbe ministry. He is considered one 
of the ablest and most eloquent divines in the State. 

THE RE-OPENING. 

In 1875, the trustees being elected by the General Assembly, in pur- 
suance of a Constitutional amendment of that year, the University was 
re-opened with a corps of seven professors, the Eev. Charles Phillips, 
D. D., LL. D., professor of mathematics, being made chairman of the 
Faculty. 

Dr. Phillips is a native of Harlem, K. Y. His father, James Phillips, 
came to this country from England, and from 1826 to his death in 1867, 
was professor of mathematics at Chapel Hill. He was graduated at the 
University in 1841, and after studying a year at Princeton, became tutor 
of mathematics at his alma mater in 1844 ; was promoted to the pro- 
fessorship of civil engineering in 1853, and upon the death of his father 
was transferred to the chair of mathematics. After the dispersion of 
the Faculty of the University, be became professor of mathematics in 
Davidson College in 1869, where he remained till his recall to Chapel 
Hill in 1875. In 1879, owing to bad health he gave up active work and 
was made professor emeritus in bis department. He has written much 
for the religious and secular press, and published a Manual of Trig- 
onometry for use at the University. 

The requirements for admission were made essentially the same as at 
the close of the administration of President Swain. Three courses of 
study were provided : the classical, requiring four years for its comple- 
tion, and leading to the degree of Bachelor of Arts; the scientific, re- 
quiring three years, and leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science ; 
the agricultural, requiring three years, and leading to the degree of 
Bachelor of Agriculture. 

During the session of 1875-76 sixty-nine students were enrolled. 

THE FIFTH PRESIDENT, KEMP PLTJMMER BATTLE, LL. D. 

In 1876 the Hon. Kemp P. Battle was elected president of the Uni- 
versity and has held the position continuously since. He is a son of 
the late Judge William H. Battle, at one time a member of the Supreme 
Court of North Carolina, and author of a digest of the laws of the State. 
President Battle was born December 19, 1831. He was graduated at 
the University in 1849, being valedictorian of his class, and for four 
years was tutor of mathematics in that institution. In 1854 he began 
the practice of law and made rapid advancement in his profession. He 
was a Whig delegate to the secession convention of 1861, and was State 
treasurer from 1866 to 1868. At the time of his election to the presi- 
dency he was a prominent lawyer of Baleigh. 

At the beginning of his administration the Faculty was increased, the 
courses enlarged, and the standard of instruction raised. The course 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 87 

leading to the degree of Bachelor of Agriculture was done away with, and 
a philosophical course, differing from the classical in that only one an- 
cient language is required, more attention being devoted to the scien- 
tific studies, leading to the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy, was added. 
All the undergraduate courses were made co-ordinate, each requiring 
four years for completion. Post-graduate instruction leading to the 
master's degree (A. M., Ph. M., and M. S.) and the doctor's degree (Ph. 
D.) was provided. For the master's degree the candidate must take 
post-graduate study for one year in three subjects, submit a suitable 
thesis and pass satisfactory examinations. For the doctor's degree, 
two of the subjects of the post-graduate work of the first year must be 
continued for another session, the candidate then submitting a thesis 
and passing examinations. 

The University as now constituted embraces the following depart- 
ments : The Literary Department, the Scientific Department, the School 
of Normal Instruction, the College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, 
and the School of Law. 

Under the administration of President Battle its growth has been 
marked. Since 1876 the annual enrolment of students has averaged 
about 175. The academic staff now numbers 17. 

Beginning with the Swain administration the salaries have been as 
follows : 

In 1836 the president received $2,000 per annum and residence ; the 
professors each $1,240 and residence. In 1860 the president's salary 
had been increased to $2,500, and the professors' to $1,700. The former 
now (1887) receives $2,500 and the latter $2,000 per year and residences. 

PRESENT REQUIREMENTS AND COURSES. 

The requirements for admission to the University are as follows : 

In Latin. — Caesar's Gallic War (5 books), Virgil's iEneid (5 books), Cicero's Orations 
(4). Equivalent amounts from other authors are accepted. A thorough acquaint- 
ance with the forms of declension and conjugation and the general principles of con- 
struction is absolutely essential. In Greek. — Xenophon's Anabasis (3 books), simple 
exercises in translating English into Greek, Greek Grammar (Goodwin or Hadley- Allen), 
a good knowledge of which is required. In Mathematics. — Arithmetic, and Algebra to 
quadratic equations. In English. — English Grammar (Whitney, Bain), Introduction 
to Rhetoric and Composition (Chittenden andD. J. Hill, or Reed and Kellogg), Out- 
lines of English and American History and Literature (Freeman, Gilman). 

Applicants wishing to pursue the classical course are examined in all 
the above studies, and in addition are required to exhibit a general ac- 
quaintance with ancient history, geography, and mythology. Slight 
deficiencies in the amount of reading required in Latin and Greek are 
allowed to be made up by private study, during the first session, if the 
rest of the examination is satisfactory. Those desiring to take the 
philosophical course are examined in Latin or Greek, according to se- 
lection made, mathematics and English. For the scientific course the 



88 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

applicants are examined in Mathematics and English. Optional stu- 
dents are examined in sucb of the above as relate to the studies they 
select. For admission into advanced classes, applicants are examined 
in the studies completed by the classes they wish to join. 

The following undergraduate courses of study are provided. The 
figures in parentheses denote the number of recitations or lectures per 
week : 

1. Classical course, leading to the degree of Bachelor of Arts : 

First year. — First term : Algebra (4), Latin (4), Greek (4), English (2), History (1), 
Hygiene (six lectures), Practical Morals (six lectures). Second term: Geom- 
etry (4), Latin (4), Greek (4), English (2), History (1). 

Second year. — First term : Trigonometry (4), Latin (4), Greek (4), Chemistry (3), 
English (1). Second term : Analytical Geometry (4), Latin (4), Greek (4), 
Chemistry (3), English (1). 

Third year.— First term: Physics (4), Logic (2), English (1), Elective (9), of 
which at least (3) must he devoted to a modern or classic language. Second 
term : Physics (4), Logic and Psychology (2), English (1), Elective (9), sub- 
ject to same condition as in first term. 

Fourth year. — First term: Political Economy (3), English Literature (3), Essays 
and Orations (1), Psychology and Moral Philosophy (2), Elective (6), subject 
to samo condition as in third year. Second term : Constitutional and Inter- 
national Law (3), English Literature (3), Essays and Orations (1), Moral 
Philosophy (2), Elective (6), subject to same condition as in third year. 

Elective studies: History (3), French (3), German (3), Latin (4), Greek (4), 
Anglo-Saxon (3), Industrial Chemistry (3), Qualitative Chemical Analysis 
(3), Quantitative Chemical Analysis and Assaying (3), Physiology, Zoology, 
and Botany (3), Economic Entomology (3), Advanced Botany (3), Surveying 
and Engineering (3), Calculus (4), Practical Horticulture (2), Biological 
Laboratory (2), Astronomy (1|), Theoretical Mechanics (1$), Geology (1£), 
Mineralogy (1-J), Metallurgy (1-J), Mental and Moral Philosophy (2), Physics (2). 

2. Philosophical course, leading to the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy : 

First year. — First term : Algebra (4), Latin or Greek (4), German or French (3), 
English (2), History (1), Physiography (1), Hygiene (six lectures), Practical 
Morals (six lectures). Second term: Geometry (4), Latin or Greek (4), Ger- 
man or French (3), English (2), History (1), Physiography (1). 

Second year. — First term : Trigonometry (4), Latin or Greek (4), German or French 
(3), Chemistry (3), English (1). Second term: Analytical Geometry (4), Latin 
or Greek (4), German or French (3), Chemistry (3), English (1). 

Third year. — First term : Physics (4), Physiology (3), Logic (2), English (1), Elect- 
ive (6). Second term : Physics (4), Zoology and Botany (3), Logic and Psy- 
chology (2), English (1), Elective (6). 

Fourth year. — First term : Political Economy (3), English Literature (3), Essays 
and Orations (1), Astronomy (3), Psychology (2), Elective (3). Second term : 
Constitutional and International Law (3), English Literature (3), Essays and 
Orations (1), Geology (3), Moral Philosophy (2), Elective (3). 

Elective studies : Studies to fill out the hours marked Elective in the above course 
may be chosen from either or both of the lists of Elective Studies given under 
the Classical Course and Scientific Course. 

3. Scientific course, leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science : 

First year. — First term: Algebra (4), German or French (3), or Latin (4), English 
(2), History (1), Entomology (1), Physiography (1), Physiology (3), Hy- 
giene (six lectures), Practical Morals (six lectures). Second term : Geom- 
etry (4), German or French (3), or Latin (4), English (2), History (1), Ento- 
mology (1), Physiography (1), Zoology and Botany (3). 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 89 

3. Scientific course — Continued. 

Second year. — First term : Trigonometry (4), German or French (3), or Latin (4), 
English (1), Chemistry (3), Qualitative Chemical Analysis (3), Biological 
Laboratory (2). Second term : Analytical Geometry (4), German or French 
(3), or Latin (4), English (1), Chemistry (3), Qualitative Chemical Analy- 
sis (3), Biological Laboratory (2). 

Third year. — First term: Physics (4), Mineralogy (3), English (1), Elective (8). 
Second term: Physics (4), Geology (3), English (1), Elective (8). 

Fourth year. — First term: Astronomy ( 3), Elective (12), (of which (6) must be 
devoted to Science). Second term : Elective (15), (of which (6) must be 
devoted to Science). 

Elective studies : Advanced Botany (3), Quantitative Chemical Analysis and 
Assaying (3), Surveying and Drafting (3), Calculus (4), Anatomy and Phy- 
siology of Domestic Animals (3), History (3), Psychology aild Moral Philoso- 
phy (2), English Literature (3), Political Economy, Constitutional and In- 
ternational Law (3), French or German (3), Economic Entomology (2), Prac- 
tical Horticulture (2), Agricultural Chemistry (1£), Metallurgy (1J), Me- 
chanics (L», Pratical Geology (3), Essays and Orations (1), Physics (2), Logic 
and Psychology (2), Industrial Chemistry (3). 

In the College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts the following 
courses are given : 

1. Agriculture, leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science, with a certificate of pro- 

ficiency in Agriculture : 
Fir3t and second years. — The same studies are required as in the corresponding 

years of the Scientific Course. 
Third year. — First term : Mechanics (4), Mineralogy (3), Industrial Chemistry 

(3), Agricultural Botany (3), Entomology (2). • Second term : Physics (4), 

Geology (3), Industrial Chemistry (3), Agricultural Botany (3), Entomology 

(2). 
Fourth year. — First term : Land Surveying (3), Astronomy (3), .Domestic Animals 

(3), Horticulture (2), Elective (4). Second term: Agricultural Chemistry 

(3), Horticulture (2), Elective (10). 

In addition to the above a two years' course has been arranged for 
those who wish to give special attention to agriculture and who can not 
remain four years. This course leads to no degree. The studies are as 
follows : 

First year. — First term : Algebra (4), Physiology (3), Chemistry (3), Qualitative 
Laboratory Practice (3), English (2), Entomology (1), Hygiene (six lectures). 
Second term : Geometry (4), Zoology and Botany (3), Chemistry (3), Quali- 
tative Laboratory Practice (3), English (2), Entomology (1). 

Second year. — First term: Mechanics (4), Agricultural Botany (3), Anatomy and 
Physiology of Domestic Animals (3), Injurious and Beneficial Insects (2), 
Principles of Horticulture (2), Business Law (1). Second term : Agricultural 
Chemistry (3), Geology (3), Agricultural Botany (3), Feeding and Breeding 
of Domestic Animals (3), Injurious and Beneficial Insects (2), Practical Hor- 
ticulture (2). 

2. Civil Engineering and Mining, leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science, with a 

certificate in Civil Engineering and Mining : 

First and second years. — The same studies are required as in the corresponding 
years of the Scientific Course. 

Third year. — First term: Physics (4), Mineralogy (3), Calculus (4), Surveying 
and Drafting (3). Second term : Physics (4), Geology (3), Calculus (4), Sur- 
veying and Drafting (3). 



90 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

*3. Civil Engineering and Mining — Cou tinned. 

Fourth year, —First term : Engineering (3), Mining and Assaying (3), Quantita- 
tive Chemical Analysis (3), Practical Geology (3), Astronomy (3). Second 
term : Engineering (3), Metallurgy (3), Quantitative Chemical Analysis (3), 
Theoretical Mechanics (3), Elective (3). 

The Normal Department has been established in accordance with the 
State Constitution, and by a recent act of the General Assembly young 
men preparing to teach are given free tuition on the condition that 
they pledge themselves to teach at least one year after leaving the 
University. The special object of this department is to prepare teach- 
ers for the public schools. 

A two years 7 Normal Course is provided: 

First year. — First term : English (2), Algebra (3), Physiology (3), History of North 
Carolina (2), Commercial Arithmetic (1), Reviews and Methods of Teaching (5). 
Second term : English (2), Algebra (3), Zoology and Botany (3), History of United 
States (2), Book-keeping (1), School Economy (4). 

Second year. — First term: English (1), Algebra (4), Physical Geography (1), El- 
ocution (2), Chemistry (3), or Physics or Latin (4), Graded Schools (3), Seminary (1). 
Second term : English (1), Physical Geography (1), Geometry (4), Chemistry (3), 
or Physics or Latin (4), Methods of Culture (2), History of Education (3), Sem- 
inary (1). 

This course leads to no degree, but upon passing approved examina- 
tions in the studies above enumerated, a certificate of proficiency is 
awarded. 

In the School of Law the plan of studies comprises (A) the course 
prescribed by the Supreme Court of North Carolina, and (B) an addi- 
tional course for those desiring to compete for the degree of Bachelor 
of Science. The following works are used as text-books : 

(A) Blackstone's Commentaries, Washburn on Real Property, Schouler on Execu- 
tors, Stephen on Pleading, Chitty's Pleading, Adams' Doctrine of Equity, 1st Green- 
leaf on Evidence, Smith on Contracts, Addison or Bigelow on Torts, Constitution of 
the United States and of North Carolina, Code of North Carolina, particularly the 
Code of Civil Procedure. (B) Parsons on Contracts, Pierce on American Railroad 
Law, Angell & Ames on Corporations, Willard's Equity Jurisprudence, Cooley's Con- 
stitutional Limitations, Wharton's Criminal Law, and Best's Principles of Evidence. 

In addition to the above, post-graduate courses are provided, open to 
students of any institution who have taken their baccalaureate degree, 
free of tuition. Applicants for a Master's degree must have completed 
the course leading to the corresponding Bachelor's degree. In all cases 
the instructors must be satisfied that the student is prepared to follow 
the course selected. 

I. Classical Course, leading to the degree of Master of Arts : Three studies, pursued 
for one year, to be selected from the following groups, subject to the condi- 
tion that one study must, and two may, bo selected from group 1, but net 
more than one from any other group : 

1. Latin, Greek. 

2. German, French, English. 

3. Political Science, Mental and Moral Science, History. 

4. Chemistry, Geology, Metallurgy, Natural History. 

5. Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 91 

2. Philosophical Course, leading to the degree of Master of Philosophy : Three studies, 

pursued for one year, to be selected from the following groups, subject to the 
same condition as in Classical Course. 

1. Latin, Greek, German, French, English. 

2. Political Science, Mental and Moral Science, History. 

3. Chemistry, Geology, Metallurgy, Natural History. 

4. Mathematics, Natural Philosophy. 

3. Scientific Course, leading to the degree of Master of Science : Three studies, pur- 

sued for one year, to be selected from the following groups, subject to the 
same condition as in Classical Course. 

1. Chemistry, Geology, Metallurgy, Natural History, Mathematics, 

Natural Philosophy. 

2. Latin, Greek, German, French, English. 

3. Political Science, Mental and Moral Science, History. 

4. The course leading to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, requiring two years : For 

the first year the candidate may select any one of the courses offered for a 
Master's degree (A. M., Pn. M., M. S.). The second year is devoted to a more 
extensive study of two of the subjects pursued in the first year. 

EQUIPMENT FOR TEACHING. 

The Faculty includes seventeen teachers ; there are eighteen lecture and 
recitation rooms; six laboratories and museums for daily scientific work; 
a large general museum; a select library of 25,000 volumes; a reading- 
room, which is provided with about 100 leading periodicals, and a fine 
supply of maps and illustrative apparatus. The library building is ad- 
mirably fitted up, and will compare favorably with that of any univer- 
sity of this country. It is in charge of a regular librarian, and the books 
are well catalogued and arranged. 

SCHOLARSHIP AND LOAN FUNDS. 

The B. F. Moore Scholarships. — This fund, now amounting to $6,000 
in North Carolina 4 per cent, bonds, was established in 1878. The in- 
terest is devoted to the payment of the tuition of those students to whom 
the Moore scholarships may be awarded. 

The Deems Fund. — This fund was instituted in 1878, by the Eev. C. F. 
Deems, D. D., pastor of the Church of the Strangers, New York, as a 
memorial of his son, Lieutenant Theodore Disosway Deems, who was 
born at Chapel Hill while his father was in the Faculty of the University. 
In 1881 it was greatly enlarged through the munificence of Mr. William 
H. Vanderbilt. 

The object of this fund is to assist needy students by loans. The loans 
are made at 6 per cent, interest, and for a sufficient length of time to 
make the payment easy. The fund now amounts to $13,600.. 

The Francis Jones Smith Fund. — The late Miss Mary Buffin Smith, of 
Orange County, left a valuable tract of 1,440 acres of land in Chatham 
County, known as the Jones Grove Tract, the income of which, or of 
the proceeds if sold, is used for the education of such students as the 
Faculty may designate. 



92 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN ISfORTH CAROLINA. 

It is estimated that this land, at present prices, would sell for at least 
$13,000, but as real estate in this part of North Carolina is rapidly in- 
creasing- in value, it is expected that more than that amount will ulti- 
mately be realized for it. 

PRESENT SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. 

The University is, by the State Constitution, intrusted to the General 
Assembly. "Its government is under the control of a board of eighty 
trustees, elected by joint vote of the General Assembly. Of these one- 
fourth go out of office and their places are filled every two years. Al- 
though not so required by law, in practice they are distributed among 
Congressional districts. The board meets regularly twice a year — in 
the winter at Baleigh, on a day selected by the chairman, and in the 
summer at Chapel Hill, during Commencement week. The former is 
called the annual meeting. The Governor is ex-officio chairman of the 
board. Ten constitute a quorum. During the recess of the board an 
executive committee of seven trustees, elected at the annual meeting, 
exercises all the powers of the board of trustees, except those specially 
reserved." (University Catalogue, 1886-87, p. 9.) 

LITERARY SOCIETIES. 

A prominent feature of Southern colleges is their literary societies. 
The exercises consist of debate, declamation, and composition. Social, 
economic, political, and historical questions are discussed. Parliament- 
ary order is strictly enforced, and thus the young collegian becomes 
familiar with the management of deliberative bodies. In the distribu- 
tion of honors and offices, "society politics," as it is termed, comes into 
play. Parties are organized, and their management is, in many respects, 
not unlike that of the political parties with which the students are likely 
to become connected after leaving college. It is often the case that the 
student finds his society the strongest tie to the institution, and many 
think the training there received for practical life equal to that given 
in the lecture-room. 

The literary societies of the University of North Carolina, the Dia- 
lectic and the Philanthropic, are noted throughout the South. Their 
members have filled the highest positions of trust and honor that the 
State and nation can confer. The writer is indebted to Stephen B. 
Weeks, A. M., instructor in English at the University, for the following 
information concerning them. 

The Dialectic {Society was founded June 3, 1795, and from that time to 
the present has had about 2,700 members, some 1,100 having been grad- 
uated by the University. 

The society color is blue, and its motto is "Love of Virtue and Sci- 
ence." The hall is handsomely furnished. Portraits in oil of the fol- 
lowing distinguished members adorn the walls : James K. Polk, Wil- 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 93 

liara A. Graham, David L. Swain, Thomas Euffin, Abram Bencher, J. 
Motley Morehead, Charles Manly, Willie P. Mangum, Thomas L. Cling- 
mau, Dancan Cameron, James Mebane, and Paul C. Cameron. There 
are also portraits of William Eiehardson Davie, Governor and minister 
to France, who, as grand master of the Masonic fraternity in North 
Carolina in 1793 ; laid the corner-stone of the first University building ; 
George Edmund Badger, United States Senator and Secretary of the 
Navy, and other noted North Carolinians, who were honorary members 
of this society. 

The Philanthropic Society was founded August 1, 1795, under the name 
of u Concord Society." It received its present name August 29, 1796. 
Of its 2,141 members 818 were graduated at the University. 

The society color is white, and its motto is " Virtue, Liberty, and 
Science." Its hall is furnished similarly to that of the Dialectic. The 
hall contains oil portraits of the following members : William E. King, 
John Branch, John Y. Mason, Francis Lister Hawks, William Miller, 
James C. Dobbin, John Heritage Bryan, Bartholomew Figures Moore, 
Thomas C. Manning, James Grant, E. E. Bridges, Bryan Grimes, Wil- 
liam L. Saunders, Jacob Thompson, Joseph John Daniel, J. Johnston 
Pettigrew, and Eichard Spaight Donnell. In addition to the above 
there are portraits of the following honorary members : Joseph Cald- 
well, Elisha Mitchell, and William Gaston, at one time associate justice 
of the supreme court of North Carolina, the first Eoman Catholic to 
hold office in the State. 

As a rule the students from the western part of the State join the 
Dialectic Society, and those from the eastern section the Philanthropic 
Society. Members of the two societies room in different buildings. 

The North Carolina University Magazine is published under the au- 
spices of these societies. 

GREEK LETTER FRATERNITIES. 

Greek letter fraternities have existed at the University since 1850. 
Before the War they were known to exist and were recognized by the 
Faculty. When the University was reorganized in 1875 nothing was 
said of them, but in January, 1885, they were formally recognized by 
the trustees. 

The following list includes all the fraternities that have existed or now 
exist at the University : 

AKE, B chapter, 1850-1861. Re-organized 1887. 
$rd, E chapter, 1851-1861. Not re-organized. 
$AQ, # chapter, 1852-1861. Re-organized 1885. 
AW, a chapter, 1854-1863. Not re-organized. 
A$, K chapter, 1855-1861. Not re-organized. 
XW, 2 chapter, 1855-1861. Not re- organized. 
$K2, A chapter, 1856-1861. Re-organized 1877. 
2AE, £ chapter, 1857-1862. Re-organized 1885. 
SAX, M chapter, 1857-1862. Not re-organized. 



94 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

ZW, T chapter, 185&-1868. Reorganized 1885. 
X«?, A chapter, 1858-1867. Not reorganized. 
A T£l, AA chapter. Organized 1879. 
KA (Southern order), T chapter. Organized 1881. 
$®A. Organized 1885. 

The Phi Kappa JSiginaowns a fraternity hall, erected iu the spring of 
1887. This is the only hall built and owned by a Greek letter frater- 
nity in the State. 

About one-half of the students are fraternity men. 

INFLUENCE OF THE UNIVERSITY UPON THE SOUTH. 

Before the late War the University was eminent among the colleges 
of the Union. In the South it occupied a commanding position; in 
numbers it ranked among the first, and in influence and reputation it 
was only equalled by the University of Virginia. 

The growth of the institution is remarkable when we take into con- 
sideration the difficulties with which it struggled in its infancy. When 
Dr. Caldwell became president in 1804, there were but 60 students. 
From this time till his death in 1835 the average attendance per ses- 
sion was about 100, and the average number of graduates 16. 

The highest number put down in any annual catalogue during his 
administration was 173, but as the catalogue was always issued early 
in the session the full number for the year is not given. 

Among those who studied at the University before 1835, the following 
became prominent : 

William R. King, who was in public life, from 1810-57, as member of Cougress, Sec- 
retary of Legation at St. Petersburg, United States Senator, being twice elected 
president pro tempore of the Senate, Minister to France, and Vice-President of the 
United States ; Thomas H. Benton, United States Senator from Missouri, author of 
"Thirty Years' View," etc ; John Branch, Governor of North Carolina, United States 
Senator, Secretary of the Navy, Governor of Florida Territory ; John Henry Eaton, 
United States Senator from Tennessee, Secretary of War, Governor of Florida Terri- 
tory, Minister to Spain, and author of " Life of Jackson ; " John Witherspoon, 
president of Miami College, Ohio; Romulus M. Saunders, judge, and Minister to 
Spain; Hutchins G. Burton, Governor of North Carolina; A. D. Murphey, judge, 
and "Father of the Public Schools of North Carolina;" Rev. William Hooper, 
professor of languages in the Universities of North Carolina and South Carolina, and 
president of. Wake Forest College ; Willie P. Mangum, judge, and United States 
Senator fromNorth Carolina ; Bedford Brown, United States Senator from North Caro- 
lina; Charles Manly, Governor ofjjNorth Carolina; John G. A. Williamson, Charge" 
d' Affaires to Venezuela ; John M. Morehead, Governor of North Carolina ; William 
D. Mosely, Governor of Florida ; Alfred M. Slade, Consul to Buenos Ayres ; William 
H. Haywood, United States Senator from North Carolina ; Rev. Thomas B. Slade, 
president of Columbus (Georgia) Female Institute ; Rev. Robert H. Morrison, presi- 
dent of Davidson College; William H. Battle, supreme court judge, North Caro- 
lina; Rev. Francis Lister Hawks, professor of divinity in Trinity College, Con- 
necticut, vice-president of American Ethnological Society, 1855-59, president of 
American Geographical and Statistical Society, 1855-56, and author of History 
of North Carolina, Egypt and its Monuments, History of the Episcopal Church in 
America, etc. ; Richmond M. Pearson, chief-justice supreme court, North Carolina; 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 95 

William A. Graham, Governor of North Carolina, United States Senator, Secretary of 
the Navy, and Confederate States Senator; Rt. Rev. Leonidas Polk, bishop of Arkansas 
and Louisiana; Daniel M. Barringer, Minister to Spain; Joseph J. Daniel, supreme 
court judge, North Carolina William Miller, Governor of North Carolina, and Charge* 
d' Affaires to Guatemala; John Heritage Bryan, member of Congress from North Caro- 
lina; Richard Dobbs Spaight, member of Congress, and Governor of North Carolina; 
Edward Jones Mallett, Consul-General to Italy ; Thomas N. Mann, Charg6 d'Affaires 
to Guatemala; Thomas J.Green, brigadier-general in Texan army, and member of 
Texan Congress; John Bragg, judge, and member of Congress from North Carolina ; 
Thomas Bragg, Governor of North Carolina, United States Senator, and Attorney- 
General of the Confederate States ; Warren Winslow, Special Commissioner to Spain 
in regard to "Black Warrior" affair, and member of Congress from North Carolina; 
John Owen, Governor of North Carolina, and president of the Whig convention of 
1840; Rev. William M. Green, Protestant Episcopal bishop of Mississippi; Rev. 
Thomas F. Davis, Protestant Episcopal bishop of South Carolina; Abram Rencher, 
Charge* d' Affaires to Portugal, Governor of New Mexico, and member of Congress ; 
Mathias E. Manly, superior and supreme court judge, North Carolina; Thomas L. 
Clingman, United States Senator, and brigadier-general, C. S. A. ; William W. 
Avery, Confederate States Senator from North Carolina; Cicero Stephens Hawks, 
Protestant Episcopal bishop of the diocese of Missouri ; Jacob Thompson, member 
of Congress from Mississippi, and Secretary of the Interior ; James C. Dobbin, mem- 
ber of Congress from North Carolina, and Secretary of the Navy ; John L. Gay, pro- 
fessor in University of Indiana ; James Grant, judge, Iowa ; Rev. Solomon Lea, profes- 
sor in Randolph-Macon College, and president of Greensborough Female College; 
William Blount Rodman, supreme court judge, North Carolina; Robert Ballard Gill- 
iam, judge, and member of Congress from North Carolina. All of the above were 
natives of North Carolina. In addition to these should be mentioned the follow- 
ing, who entered the University from other States during this period: James Knox 
Polk, of Tennessee, Governor of Tennessee, member of Congress, and President of 
the United States ; Aaron V. Brown, of Virginia, Governor of Tennessee, member of 
Congress, and Postmaster-General ; Judge Thomas J. Hay wood, of Tennessee ; John 
Young Mason, of Virginia, judge, member of Congress, Secretary of the Navy, Attor- 
ney-General of the United States, Minister to France; George C. Dromgoole, of Vir- 
ginia, member of Congress ; Walker Anderson, of Virginia, professor in the Univer- 
sity of North Carolina, and chief-justice supremo court of Florida; James Hervey 
Otey, of Virginia, Protestant Episcopal bishop of the diocese of Tennessee ; Alex- 
ander D. Sims, of Virginia, member of Congress from South Carolina ; Edward Drom- 
goole Sims, of Virginia, professor in Randolph-Macon College and University of Ala- 
bama ; Thomas Samuel Ashe, of Alabama, Confederate States Senator, member of 
Congress, supreme, court judge of North Carolina ; John M. Ashurst, of Georgia, solici- 
tor-general of Georgia; David V. Lewis, of Georgia, president Georgia Agricultural 
and Mechanical College ; Judge Nathaniel W. Williams, of Tennessee ; John A. Cam- 
eron, of Virginia, judge in Florida; Judge Henry Y.Webb, of Alabama; Thomas J. 
Lacy, of Kentucky, supreme court judge, Arkansas; Judge William M. Inge, of Ten- 
nessee ; Erasmus D. North, of Connecticut, professor at Yale ; Alfred O. P. Nicholson, 
of Tennessee, United States Senator from Tennessee ; Oliver N. Treadwell, of Con- 
necticut, president of Rockville Academy, Maryland ; Archibald M. Debow, of Louisi- 
ana, author of " Industrial Resources of the South and West." 

Besides the above many could be mentioned who became distinguished 
in their respective States, but these will suffice to demonstrate that the 
instruction received at the University was of a high order, and political 
in its tendencies. 

During the thirty -three years of President Swain's administration 
(1835-1868), including the four years of the War, the average number of 



96 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

students enrolled per session was 207 ; tlie average number of graduates 
t'orthe same time being 37 per session. The most prosperous years 
wore from 1850 to 18(30, inclusive, the average annual attendance being 
about 351, a large proportion of the students coming from without the 
State. The number of students in 1858 was 456, being the largest at- 
tendance ever enrolled at any one time in the history of the institu- 
tion. 

President Swain, in a circular letter of September 4, I860, addressed 
to the patrons of the University said : " Half the States of the Union 
are represented in our catalogue. We have students from about thirty 
colleges in various parts of the country, from Vermont to Texas, and 
are thus enabled to compare ourselves with other institutions. The 
comparison gives us much reason to be satisfied with the condition of 
things among us, and we may add, that at no previous period has our 
corps of instructors been more efficient, or the morals and scholarship 
of our students more encouraging." During this period many studied 
at the University who afterwards became distinguished. In the list of 
names the following are prominent: 

Frederick Divoux Lente, M. D., professor in the University of New York, founder and 
president of the American Academy of Medicine ; John W. Moore, histori an and novel- 
ist; Zehulon B. Vance, Governor of North Carolina, and United States Senator; Matt. 
W. Ransom, United States Senator; Samuel Hall, chief-justice of Georgia; Wash- 
ington C. Kerr, State geologist, North Carolina ; Thomas Settle, supreme court judge, 
North Carolina, United States Minister to Peru, president National Republican Con- 
vention in 1872, and judge United States district court in Florida; Francis Preston 
Blair, member of Congress, major-general United States Army, and United States 
Senator ; William S. Bryan, supreme court judge, Maryland ; Thomas Courtland Man- 
ning, chief-justice supreme court of Louisiana and Minister to Mexico; General James 
Johnston Pettigrew, Secretary of Legation in Spain ; William L. Saunders, secretary 
of State for North Carolina, author, and editor of North Carolina Colonial Records ; 
George Davis, 'attorney-general of Confederate States ; Samuel F. Phillips, United 
States Solicitor-General; A. M. Scales, Governor of North Carolina; Peter M. Hale 
and Theo. B. Kingsbury, journalists. 

The writer has found it im possible to secure a complete list of the 
students of the University before the War. The Philanthropic Society 
of the University has recently issued a "Begister of Members" from 
1795 to 1887, edited by Mr. Stephen B. Weeks. The Dialectic Society 
has not issued a register since 1852. 1 The University has never issued 
a complete list of its students. But from the two society registers 
above mentioned it appears that of those who studied at the University 
before 1880, one became President of the United States ; one Vice- 
President of the United States ; ten Cabinet officers ; twelve ministers 
and charge d'affaires; fourteen United States Senators; thirty-five 
members of Congress; fifteen Governors of States; fifty-five judges ; 
three presidents of colleges outside of North Carolina, and twelve prom- 
inent professors in colleges not in North Carolina. Of course this list 

1 Since the above was in type the writer has learned that the Dialectic Society 
issued a catalogue of its members in June, 1888. 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



97 



could be greatly increased if the writer had a complete and well edited 
register of the Dialectic Society. 

The War fell upon the University like an untimely frost. It suffered 
during the days of reconstruction, and finally at the close of the Pool 
administration (1869 to 1870 inclusive) its glory appeared to have de- 
parted and its usefulness seemed at an end. 

With the re-opening in 1875 a brighter day dawned upon the institu- 
tion. Since then the annual attendance has averaged 180. From 1875 
to 1887, inclusive, 201 young men were graduated. 

From the opening of the University in 1795 to the present time about 
5,000 students have matriculated. 

The attendance from States other than North Carolina is shown by 
the following table prepared by Mr. Stephen B. Weeks : 

Student attendance ly States, 1795-1887. 



State. 



Virginia 

Alabama 

Tennessee 

South Carolina 

Mississippi 

Louisiana 

Georgia 

Florida 

Texas 

Arkansas 

Kentucky 



Number. 



2G1 
182 
168 
103 
99 
69 
58 
38 
34 
15 
10 



State. 



~New York 

Iowa 

California 

Missouri 

Connecticut 

Ohio 

Maryland 

District of Columbia 

New Mexico , 

Indian Territory — 

Total 



Number. 



To complete the above table it is only necessary to add the attendance 
from North Carolina, about four thousand, making a grand total of 
five thousand students. 

A majority of the students from Virginia came from 1800 to 1825 1 1 
of those from other States the majority came in the most flourishing 
period of the University — 1850 to 1860. Since the re-opening in 1875 
only twenty-five have been in attendance from outside North Carolina. 

A TRIBUTE TO THE UNIVERSITY. 



President Andrew D.White, of Cornell University, in a letter to Prof. 
George T. Winston, professor of Latin in the University of North 
Carolina, thanking him for a copy of his monograph on The Greek, 
the Roman, and the Teuton, said: " Your subject interests me greatly. 

1 In this connection it is interesting to note the student attendance from North Car- 
olina at the University of Virginia from 1825 to 1874. The following facts are taken 
from a table prepared by William P. Trent, A. M., an alumnus of the University of 
Virginia, now taking a post-graduate course at the Johns Hopkins University. 

Whole number of students from North Carolina, 380, which is four per cent, of the 
total attendance, divided as follows : Lawyers, 59 ; physicians, 119 ; clergymen, 7 ; 
editors, 1; teachers, 3; in Confederate service (one brigadier-general), 76; farmers, 
43 ; judges (one chief justice of North Carolina), 3 ; in State Legislature (one speaker), 
13 j number that emigrated to other States, 59. 

17037— No. 2. 7 



OS HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

1 have never realized so fully how near to us the history of Rome is, 
and how fall of instruction it is for thinking men of our Republic. It 
gives me especial pleasure to think that with such a work as this you 
are reviving the old glories of your University. I remember in my young 
manhood the University of North Carolina was always spoken of with 
the greatest respect among men who knew anything about an Ameri- 
can collegiate education. While the University of Virginia and Johns 
Hopkins have, to some extent, drawn away from it, I see no reason why 
its present Faculty should not give it a commanding position in the 
South-east of our Republic." 

MEMBERS OF THE FACULTY— 1795-1887. 

Presidents . 

Joseph Caldwell, D. D., 1804-1812 ; Robert Hett Chapman, D. D., 1813-1816; Joseph 
Caldwell, D. D., 1816-1835; David Lowry Swain, LL. D., 1835-1868; Solomon Pool, 
D. D., 1869-1875 ; Kemp Plummer Battle, LL. D., 1876-. 

Professors. 

Ancient languages (Latin and Greek) : David Kerr, 1794-1796 ; Samuel Allen Holmes, 
1796-1798 ; William Edwards Webb, 1799-1800 ; Archibald DeBow Murphey, 1800-1801 
William Bingham, 1801-1805; Andrew Rhea, 1806-1814; William Hooper, 1817-1822 
Ethan Allen Andrews, 1822-1828 ; William Hooper, 1828-1837 ; Manuel Fetter, 1838 
Ashbel Green Brown, adjunct, 1855-1856. 

Latinlanguage and literature: John DeBerniere Hooper, 1838-1848 ; Fordyce Mitchell 
Hubbard, 1849-1868; D. S. Patrick, 1869-1870; George Tayloe Winston, 1875-. 

Greek language and literature: Manuel Fetter, 1838-1868; F. P. Brewer, 1869-1870; 
J. DeBerniere Hooper, 1875-1885; Solomon Cohen Weill, acting professor, -1885-1886; 
Eben Alexander, 1886-. 

Mathematics: Charles Wilson Harris, 1795-1796 ; Joseph Caldwell, 1796-1817 ; Solo- 
mon Pool, adjunct, 1860-1868; Alexander Mclver, 1869-1870; Charles Phillips, 1875- 
1879 ; Ralph Henry Graves, 1879- ; James Lee Love, associate professor, 1885-. 

Mathematics and natural philosophy : Elisha Mitchell, 1817-1825 ; James Phillips, 
1826-1867. 

Natural philosophy : Jacob Smiley Gillespie, 1797-1799 ; Walker Anderson, 1833- 
1836; Carey D. Grandy, 1879-1882; Joshua Walker Gore, 1882-. 

Chemistry: Denison Olmsted, 1817-1825 ;. Elisha Mitchell, 1825-1857; William 
Joseph Martin, 1858-1867; Alexander Fletcher Redd, 1875-1880; Carey D. Grandy, 
assistant professor, 1875-1879 ; Francis Preston Venable, 1880-. 

Modern languages (French and German) : Nicolas Marcellus Hentz, 1826-1831 ; John 
DeBerniere Hooper, 1836-1838 ; John Jones Roberts, 1841-1842 ; John DeB. Hooper, 
1843-1848; Hildreth Hosea Smith, 1856-1868; John DeB. Hooper (French), 1875-1885; 
George Tayloe Winston (German), 1875-1885 ; Walter D. Toy, 1885-. 

(During the first years of the University great attention was given to the study of 
French, a native' Frenchman generally being employed as tutor of that language.) 

Rhetoric and logic : Shepard Kosciusko Kollock, 1819-1825 ; William Hooper, 1825- 
1828; Walker Anderson, 1833; William Mercer Green, 1838-1849; Charles Force 
Deems, adjunct, 1842-1848 ; John Thomas Wheat, 1850-1859 ; Andrew Doz Hepburn, 
1860-1867. 

History : Albert Micaja Shipp, 1849-1860. 

Law : William Horn Battle, 1845-1868 and 1876-1879 ; John Manning, 1881-. 

Political science: David Lowry Swain, 1835-1868; Kemp Plummer Battle, 1876-. 



UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 99 

Agricultural chemistry : Benjamin S. Hedrick, 1853-1858 3 John Kimberly, 1856-1866 
and 1875-1876. 

Agricultural chemistry and metallurgy : William Battle Phillips, 1885-. 

Natural history : William H. Smith, 1876-1877 ; Frederick William Simonds, 1877- 
1881 ; Joseph Austin Holmes, 1881- j Emil6 A. de Schweinitz, assistant professor, 1884- 
1885; George F. Atkinson, associate professor, 1885-. 

English language and literature : Thomas Hume, Jr, 1885-. 

Theory and art of teaching : Nelson B. Henry, 1885-. 

Medicine (preliminary) : Thomas W. Harris, 1878-1885. 

Lecturer on stenography : N. B. Cobb, 1880-1881. 

Mental and moral science : Adolphus W. Mangum, 1875-. 

Tutors. 

Archibald DeBow Murphey, 1799-1800; P. Celestine Molie", (?)-1802; Richard 
Henderson, 1800-1804 ; Atlas Jones, 1804-1806 ; Jacob Martin, 1806-1807 ; Gavin 
Hogg, 1808; Abner Wentworth Clopton, 1809-1810; Lewis Williams, 1810-1812; 
William Hooper, 1810; Abner Stith, 1814-1816; Jacob Morrison, 1814-1817; John 
Harper Hinton, 1814-1815; John Patterson, 1816-1817; John Motley Morehead, 1817: 
Priestley Hinton Mangum, 1817; Robert Rufus King, 1817-1818 ; William Dunn Mose- 
ley, 1817-1818 ; Hamilton Chamberlain Jones, 1818 ; Simon Peter Jordan, 1818-1821 ; 
Robert Rufus King, 1819-1820 ; Jacob Hervey Ofcey, 1820-1821 ; Anderson Mitchell, 
1821-1823 ; Joseph Hubbard Saunders, 1821-1825 ; George Shonnard Bettner, 1823- 
1826; Elisha Young, 1824-1825; Matthew Evans Manly, 1825-1826; Edward Drom- 
goole Sims, 1825-1827; Oliver Woolcott Tread well, 1826-1829, John Jenkins Wyche, 
1826-1828; Silas Milton Andrews, 1827-1828; Lorenzo Lea, 1828-1829; Thomas Bird, 
1829-1831; Henry Grattan Smith, 1830-1832; John Allen Backhouse, 1830-1831 ; John 
DeBerniere Hooper, 1831-1833; Jacob Thompson, 1831-1833 ; AegidiusMebane, 1832- 
1833; Jacob Hogg Norwood, 1833-1834 ; Thomas Lapsley Armstrong, 1833-1834 j Will- 
iam Nelson Mebane, 1833-1834 ; Samuel Richardson Blake, 1834-1835 ; William Pugli 
Bond, 1835; Harrison Wall Covington, 1835; Abraham Forrest Morehead, 1835; 
David McAllister, 1835-1836; William Henry Owen, 1835-1843; Ralph Henry Graves, 
1837-1843; Ashbel Green Brown, 1844-1855 ; Charles Phillips, 1844-1854; Keurp Plum- ■ 
mer Battle, 1850-1854 ; William Henry Johnston, 1851-1852 ; Richard Hines, 1853- 
1854 ; Henri Herrisse, 1853-1856 ; Solomon Pool, 1854-1860 ; Joseph Blount Lucas, 
1854-1858; Richard Henry Battle, 1855-1858 ; William Robards Wetmore, 1855-1858 ; 
Peter Evans Spruill, 1856-1858 ; Samuel Spencer Jackson, 1856-1860 ; Thadeus Charles 
Coleman, 1856-1857; Charles Andrews Mitchell, 1857 ; John Washington Graham, 
1858-1860; William Lee Alexander, 1858-1859; Robert Walker Anderson, 1859-1861; 
William Carey Dowd, 1^59 ; Edward Graham Morrow, 1859 ; Frederick Augustus Fet- 
ter, 1860-1863 ; George Pettigrew Bryan, 1860-1863 ; George Burgwin Johnston, 1860- 
1863 ; Iowa Royster, 1860-1863 ; Isaac E. Emerson, 1878-1879; Locke Craig, 1879-1880 ; 
Albert Lucien Cobb, 1879-1880 and 1883-1885 ; Robert Paine Pell, 1879-1881 ; Robert 
Watson Winston, 1880-1881 ; Angus Robertson Shaw, 1881-1882 ; Numa Fletcher Heit- 
man, 1881-1882; Thomas RadclifTe, 1882-1883; Benjamin Franklin White, 1883-1884 ; 
Berrie Chandler Mclver, 1883-1885; James Lee Love, 1883-1884; Augustus White 
Long, 1884; Solomon Cohen Weill, 1884-1885; James Randlette Monroe, 1885; Clau- 
dius Dockery, 1887- ; Stephen Beauregard Weeks, 1887-. 

THE ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 

The Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society was provisionally organized at 
the University of North Carolina September 24, 1883. Its founders and 
first promoters were the professors in the scientific department of that 
institution. In naming it they paid a fitting tribute to the memory of 
North Carolina's best known scientist. 



100 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

The call which was issued to all who were thought to be interested 
in the promotion of science iu North Carolina was favorably received, 
and at a second meeting held October 1, 1883, permanent organization 
was effected and a constitution adopted. 

Prof. F. P. Veuable, Ph.D., F. C. S., the first president of the society, 
in his report for 1883-84, states the objects of the organization as fol- 
lows: " The proposed aims of the society were the arousing oi an in- 
creased interest in scientific work, the building up of a spirit of research, 
the encouragement of those already at work, and the advancing of our 
knowledge of the State and its resources. The plan or system of work 
for the society was to have the centre of the organization at the Univer- 
sity with enough resident members there for the transaction of business. 
Monthly meetings were to be held at which popular treatises on scien- 
tific subjects were to be read with the hope of interesting and training 
up a number of young scientific workers. An annual journal was to be 
published containing all papers on original work or observations con- 
tributed by members of the society." He further says that one of the 
aims of the society will be the collecting and preserving all scientific 
works published or in manuscript relating to the State, or the authors 
of which are North Carolinians. 

The society has now been in active operation for four years. Its ob- 
jects are being admirably realized, and its success has been commensu- 
rate with the expectations of the founders. Scientific papers of great 
value have been presented which are printed in the annual reports. 
Each number of the journal contains about one hundred pages. 

The grades of membership are life, regular, associate, and honorary. 
The leading scientists of the State are united in furthering the aims of 
the society, and favorable notice has been taken of its work by some of 
the noted scientists of this country and Europe. It is in correspondence 
with some of the principal scientific societies of this and foreign lands. 




fi n— 



IllliliiilliiBiiil 

siililllll 




lift 



CHAPTER IV. 
LEADING DENOMINATIONAL COLLEGES. 



Wake Forest College, 
first prospects of the establishment of a baptist college. 

Wake Forest College belongs to the Baptists of North Carolina. In 
methods and management it is pre- eminently a Christian institution. 
Its founders and first promoters were men of fervent piety and broad 
philanthropy, who recognized the needs of their denomination and the 
State, — increased facilities for the higher education. Their first efforts 
were to bring the churches of their faith into harmonious union, and 
then they prepared the way for an educated ministry, the primary ob- 
ject of the college. 

In June, 1829, Rev. Messrs. John Armstrong, W. R, Hinton, James 
McDaniel, and others, met in Tarborough and organized the u Benev- 
olent Society,'- which had for its object the more effectual dissemination 
of the Gospel throughout the State. At the regular meeting of this 
society, held in Greenville, Pitt County, March 26-29, 1830, a resolution 
was adopted dissolving the society and transferring its funds to the 
Baptist State Convention, which was organized at that time. 

The most prominent founders of the convention were Eev. Messrs. 
Samuel Wait, Thomas Meredith, and John Armstrong. The primary 
objects of the convention, as stated in article second of its constitution, 
were the education of ministers and the promotion of home and foreign 
missions. 

At its next annual session, held at Oross-Eoads Church, Wake CouDty, 
in 1831, the convention accepted the offer of Rev. John Armstrong to 
educate students preparing for the ministry, and the board of managers 
were directed to send to him or to some other good school such young 
ministers as they should approve, and defray their expenses as far as 
the funds of the convention would allow. 

In August, 1832, the convention convened at Reeve's Chapel, Chatham 
County, and there it was decided to establish a school under the auspices 
of the denomination, to be managed by a board of trustees elected by 
the convention. Rev. William Hooper, chairman of the committee on 
education, in his report advocated the purchase of a farm and the estab- 
lishment of a school. The report was received; and it was unanimously 

101 



102 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. • 

u Resolved, That the convention deem it expedient to purchase a suit- 
able farm and adopt other preliminary measures for the establishment 
of a Baptist literary institution in this State, on the manual labor prin- 
ciple," and a committee was appointed to secure the funds and make the 
purchase. 

At this time manual labor institutions were in great favor through- 
out the country. Among the institutions operating on this plan at that 
time were the Virginia Baptist Seminary, Mercer Seminary (Georgia), 
Maine Wesleyan Seminary, Oneida Institute (New York), Cumberland 
College, and the Pennsylvania Manual Labor Institute. The manual 
labor system was thought wise, both on account of health and economy. 

Although the institution was intended primarily for the education of 
ministerial students, yet as this patronage would not support the school 
it was decided to admit all young men of good character. 

In August, 1832, the committee appointed by the convention to select 
a location for the school, purchased of Dr. Calvin Jones his farm, about 
16 miles from .Raleigh, containing 615 acres, for $2,000. 

WAKE FOREST INSTITUTE. 

The board of managers, at a meeting held in Baleigh, September 25, 
1832, decided that the Baptist school should be called Wake Forest 
Institute. It is said that in that part of Wake County bounded by the 
Neuse Eiver on the south, the Franklin line on the west, and Smith's 
Creek on the east, the original oak forest was unusually fine. On this 
account the section was called the Forest of Wake, or Wake Forest ; 
hence the name of the institution. 

At this time it was hoped that the school would be opened the fol- 
lowing February, but the board, at a subsequent meeting, postponed 
the beginning of the work of instruction till February, 1834. 

Eev. Samuel Wait, D. D., as the general agent of the convention, did 
what he could in the way of collecting funds and furniture for the insti- 
tute. On May 10, 1833, be was elected principal of the school." Dr. 
Wait was born in Washington County, 1ST. Y., December 19, 1789. 
He was graduated at Columbian College, Washington, D. C, where he 
was for a while tutor. In 1827 he came to North Carolina on a collect- 
ing tour for that college. He so favorably impressed the Newbern 
Baptists that they called him for their pastor in 1827. No sooner had 
he made North Carolina his home than he began to labor for the organ- 
ization of a Baptist State convention, the foundation of a Baptist col- 
lege, and the establishment of a Baptist paper, all of which he was in- 
strumental in accomplishing. 

He was president of the institute, later college, until 1816. He was 
afterwards president of a female college in Oxford, and later pastor of 
churches in Caswell County. He died in July, 1867, " honored and re- 
spected by all, and loved with surpassing devotion by the Baptists of 
North Carolina," 



LEADING DENOMINATIONAL COLLEGES. 103 

THE CHARTER. 

The institute was chartered by the General Assembly of 1833-34. 
At that time there was much prejudice against the Baptist denomina- 
tion, and at one time it seemed as if the Legislature would refuse a 
charter. Finally the lower house passed the bill by a respectable ma. 
jority, but on its final reading in the Senate there was a tie. The 
speaker, Mr. William D. Moseley, an alumnus of the University of 
North Carolina, gave the deciding vote in favor of the charter. 

The charter conferred the most meagre privileges, and nothing was 
done by the State to encourage or aid the school. Rev. Dr. Samuel 
Wait, in a sketch of the origin and early history of the college, referring 
to the charter, says : " This created a board of trustees composed of 
such individuals as were desired, with certain provisions for perpetuat- 
ing themselves, allowed the institution to acquire funds to the amount 
of $50,000, continuing the obligation to pay taxes the same as on all 
private property, and to be in force or continue twenty years and no 
longer. Was ever a charter given more meagre or lean than this? We 
have leave to be if we can. But no disposition to encourage us even to 
the value of a dime. We were not exempted from paying taxes. Such 
was the state of things then." 

OPENING OF THE INSTITUTE. 

Prof. W. L. Poteat, in a sketch of the college which appeared in the 
Raleigh Register of April 2, 1884, says : " On the first Monday of 
February, 1834, the exercises were opened with about twenty-five stu- 
dents in attendance, which number was increased to seventy in August 
following. What did these first students find on reaching Wake Forest? 
On the spot where now stands the imposing old building they found a 
small but comfortable frame dwelling. To the right, about where the 
library building stands, was the garden, both its site and embellishment 
still marked by the everlasting jonquils, just now venturing into the 
chill spring air as they did in those olden days. From a window of the 
magnificent public hall in the Wiugate Memorial Building one may 
look directly down upon what was then the horse-lot. Near by was the 
carriage-house, 16 feet by 24, in which Mr. Wait gathered his hetero- 
geneous charge for lectures or morning prayers. For dormitories seven 
good log cabins were principally relied on. The hoe and the plow were 
not out of sight of the blackboard and desk, for, it will be remembered, 
manual labor was to begin the same day with mental labor among the 
books." 

THE MANUAL LABOR SYSTEM. 

The system as first introduced here required that eacn student should 
labor three hours per day, receiving three cents per hour for his labor, 



104 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

Finally the time was reduced to one hour per day, and after about 
four years the system was abandoned altogether. 

Manual labor was unpopular with the students, and the system was 
never, from any standpoint, even a nominal success. Prof. W. T. Brooks, 
in an address before the alumni of Wake Forest College, in 1859, said : 
" The utter distaste which many of the students had for the system was 
but too evident when the bell rang for labor. When the roll was called 
some were taken suddenly ill (?) — unable to work ; but when supper 
hour arrived it was very apparent that their sickness was not unto 
death." 

Prof. L. E. Mills, in a sketch of the financial history of the college, 1 
says : " It was supposed in the beginning that the students' daily 
labor on the farm would go a long way towards paying their board. 
After a close examination of their accounts for that year (1835), I find 
that they made on an average for a year's work $4.04." 

CHARGES AND EXPENSES. 

In 1835 the charges per month were as follows: Board, $6; tuition 
in Latin, Greek, etc., $2; tuition in English, $1.50; washing, $1; 
room and firewood, gratis. During this year the price of provisions 
advanced about 100 per cent, and the price of board was raised to 
$9 per month, and yet the steward's hall did not make expenses by 
several hundred dollars. At the close of the year the institution was 
in debt to the teachers, the steward, and the treasurer. 

The next year was more x>rosperous, the number of students reach- 
ing 142. 

The year 1838 was what is usually termed a " hard year." Owing to 
the stringency in the money market many of the banks were forced to 
suspend specie payments. But few of the subscriptions for the large 
brick building which was just completed could be collected, and the 
trustees found it difficult to make prompt payments. In this strait 
money was borrowed from the banks, and the village of Wake Forest 
was laid off and most of the land belonging to the college was sold. The 
manual labor department was abolished, the steward's hall, which had 
all along been an incubus, was done away with, and the students were 
allowed to board where they pleased. 

BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENTS. 

The college campus contains about thirty acres, artistically laid out 
and shaded by magnificent oaks. 

In the account of the opening of the institute a description of the first 
buildings used for school purposes was given. These have all disap- 
peared, and in their place are four large and well-arranged brick build- 
ings. 

' Wake Forest Student, Vol. Ill, Nos. 6, 7, and 8 (1884). 




ma vmtisMmMm^^ 










^; ^ 









LEADING DENOMINATIONAL COLLEGES. 105 

The following is a list of the buildings, with the dates of their com- 
pletion. 

(1) Old Building, 1838.— One hundred and thirty-two by 65 feet, four floors; cost 
$15,000. This building contains dormitories for about one hundred students, two 
lecture-halls, and the gymnasium. 

(2) Reck- Williams Building, 1878. — One hundred and ten by 45 feet, with 10 feet 
from projection in centre, two floors ; cost $10,000. The funds were contributed by 
Col. J. M. Heck and Mr. J. G. Williams, both of Ealeigh. It contains the Philoma- 
thesian and Euzelian Society halls, the library (containing about 15,000 volumes), 
the reading-room, elegantly fitted up with the necessary furniture by the Hon. 
Charles M. Cooke, now president of the board of trustees, and two lecture-halls. 

(3) Wingate Memorial Hall, 1880. — One hundred and two by 60 feet, with projection 
in front of 10 feet, two floors ; cost $12,500. The first story contains a small chapel 
and four lecture-halls. The second story is the main hall, known as the Wingate 
Memorial Hall, in honor of the late president, W. M. Wingate. It will seat two 
thousand people, and its acoustic properties are excellent. 

(4) Lea Building (or chemical laboratory), 1887. — The central part is 32 by 65 feet, 
two stories, with a wing on each side 26 by 38 feet, one story. It has been erected 
at a cost of $15,000, and is said to be the best arranged chemical laboratory in the 
South. Apparatus costing $2,000 has been recently put in, and other additions are 
to be made. The funds for this building were mainly contributed by Mr. A. S. Lea, 
of Caswell County, in whose honor it has been named. 

WAKE FOREST COLLEGE. 

By legislative enactment Wake Forest Institute was changed to Wake 
Forest College on December 26, 1838. By the amended charter the 
trustees were permitted 'to confer the usual degrees, to hold 600 acres 
of land and $250,000 free from taxation. The time of the charter was 
extended fifty years. 

In 1839 the college charges per annum were as follows : Tuition, $45; 
room rent, $2 ; bed and bedding, $4 ; wood, $2 j servants' hire, $2 ; de- 
posit for repairs, $2. Board and washing could be secured in the vil- 
lage at $8 per month. 

To meet the payment of some debts that were being pressed, the 
trustees, in 1840, borrowed $10,000 from the State literary fund. 

Dr. Wait resigned the presidency November 26, 1844, and his suc- 
cessor, Rev. William Hooper, D. D., LL. D., was elected president 
October 17, 1845, but did not enter upon the discharge of the duties of 
the position till the beginning of the next year. 

Dr. Hooper was one of the first trustees of the college, and had al- 
ways manifested much interest in its welfare. He was a grandson of 
William Hooper, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and was 
born near Wilmington, N. 0., in 1792. In 1812 he was graduated at 
the University of North Carolina, and afterwards studied theology at 
Princeton, N. J. He was elected professor of ancjent languages in the 
University in 1816. In 1818 he entered the ministry of the Episcopal 
Church, and was for two years rector of St. John's Church, in Fayette- 
ville. Owing to change of views he became a Baptist, resigned his 
rectorship, and again, entered the University as professor of rhetoric. 



106 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

He was afterwards a professor in South Carolina College, and came 
from that State to accept the presidency of Wake Forest, which he re- 
signed in 1S48. From this time his efforts in educational work were 
for the promotion of the higher education of women. In 1855 he was 
president of the Chowan Baptist Female Institute and in 1867 he be- 
came co-principal with his son-in-law, Prof. J. DeB. Hooper, of the 
Wilson Female Seminary. He died August .19, 1876, and was buried 
in the campus of the University at Chapel Hill, near the remains of 
President Caldwell. It has been said of him that " North Carolina has 
produced no better scholar, and his work at Wake Forest and the State 
University is. to this day a fragrant memory.' 7 

The liabilities of the college continued to increase, and in 1848 
amounted to $20,000. It looked as if the property of the institution 
would have to be sold to meet the outstanding obligations. The State 
was pressing for a return of its loan, and the claim for the balance due 
on the building was being urged. Owing to these difficulties, the presi- 
dent of the college and the president of the board of trustees resigned. 
The trustees at their meeting of this year adjourned without arranging 
to meet the obligations. It seemed that the end had come. 

In this crisis Dr. Wait, Eev. J. S. Purefoy, and other friends of the 
institution rallied to its rescue, relieved it from temporary embarrass- 
ment, and before 1850 they had paid every cent of the indebtedness and 
secured the nucleus of a permanent endowment fund. 

After the resignation of Dr. Hooper, Key. J. B. W T hite was elected 
president, which position he held till 1852. 

In June, 1854, Rev. Washington Manly Wingate, D. D., was elected 
president. From his accession, dates a new era in the history of the 
college. By his wise and able management, the difficulties which threat- 
ened to overwhelm the institution were surmounted and it was placed 
on a permanent basis. 

Dr. Wingate was born in Darlington, S. C, March 22, 1828; was 
graduated at Wake Forest in 1849; studied theology at Farina n Uni- 
versity, and then entered the pastorate in his native State. In 1852 he 
became the agent of his alma mater , which position he held until he was 
called to the presidency. He remained president until his death, Feb- 
ruary 27, 1879. To write his history during the twenty-five years that 
he was connected with Wake Forest would be to give the history of the 
Baptist denomination in North Carolina for that time. For a quarter 
of a century he was the foremost Baptist in the State, and his influence 
upon the higher Christian education is not to be estimated. 

Owing to the War all college exercises were suspended in May, 1862, 
and were not resumed until 1866. In 1864 the Confederate States au- 
thorities took possession of the college building and used it as a hos- 
pital till the close of the War. 

In 1862 the total funds of the college amounted to $56,167.54. These 
were invested principally in State and Confederate Government bonds, 



LEADING DENOMINATIONAL COLLEGES. 107 

Of course most of these securities were worthless at the close of the 
War.* At that time the endowment of the college amounted to $11,700. 
By 1883 it had grown to about $50,000. In 1883 $50,000 were added 
to the fund, making a total endowment of $100,000. Of this amount 
$10,000 were contributed by Mr. J. A. Bostwick, of New York. Since 
then Mr. Bostwick has brought the college and friends of education in 
North Carolina under renewed obligations to himself. In 1885 he in- 
augurated the "Bostwick loan fund" of $10,000, the interest of which 
is loaned to indigent young men for the payment of tuition fees. In 
1886 the " Bostwick endowment fund" was founded, by a donation of 
$50,000, making his total contributions $70,000. On May 1, 1887, the 
endowment fund amounted to $153,006.44 and the total productive funds 
of the college to $172,263.04. The endowment fund is being augmented 
from time to time, and it is probable that before many years it will 
amount to several hundred thousand dollars. 

In 1879 Eev. Thomas Henderson Pritchard, D. D., was elected presi- 
dent of the college. He is an alumnus of Wake Forest and one of the 
ablest Baptist ministers in the South. After accomplishing a great work 
for the institution, he resigned the presidency in 1882, much to the re- 
gret of the friends of the college, to again enter actively upon the work 
of the ministry. 

After the resignation of Dr. Pritchard, Prof. W. B. Boyall, of the 
chair of Greek, became chairman of the faculty. 

In 1884 Eev. Charles E. Taylor, D. D., at that time professor of Latin, 
was made president. He is one of the ripest scholars in the South, 
having studied with distinction at Richmond College, the University of 
Virginia, and in Germany. His administration has been a success in 
every particular. Through his efforts and influence the greater part 
of the present endowment fund was secured, and to him, more than to 
any other one man, is clue the present efficiency of the college. 

SCHOOLS AND DEGREES. 

The course of study comprises ten schools, viz : Latin language and 
literature, Greek language and literature, English language and litera- 
ture, modern languages, pure mathematics, physics and applied math- 
ematics, chemistry, natural history, moral philosophy, and political sci- 
ence. 

For admission to the college the requirements are about the same as 
at the State University. The requirements for degrees are as follows : 

Bachelor of Letters. — The student must be a proficient in the schools 
(that is, he must have obtained 75 per cent, of the maximum of scholar- 
ship on each study in the school) of Latin language and literature, 
Greek language and literature, English language and literature, moral 
philosophy, and political science, and in French or German, and ex- 
perimental physics. 

Bachelor of Science,-?- English language and literature, pure naathe- 



108 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

nifties, physios and applied mathematics, chemistry, natural history, 
political science, and in French or German. • 

Bachelor of Arts. — Latin language aud literature, Greek language 
and literature, English language and literature, pure mathematics, phys- 
ics and applied mathematics, moral philosophy, and political science, 
and iu junior chemistry, zoology, and geology. 

Master of Arts. — All of the schools. 

A course is also given preliminary to the study of medicine, but lead- 
ing to no degree. 

Candidates for degrees are required during their Senior year to deliver 
four public orations, or to submit in lieu thereof, under certain condi- 
tions, theses. 

LITERARY SOCIETIES. 

But two literary societies are allowed, the Euzelian and the Philo- 
mathesian. They were founded in February, 1835, and there has ever 
been a healthy rivalry between them. As the college has grown in pros- 
perity, the good effects have been felt in the societies. For many years 
they occupied halls on the fourth floor of the old college building, but 
were given large and comfortable quarters on the second floor of the 
Heck- Williams building on its completion in 1878. The college library 
and the society libraries were then consolidated and placed in " Library 
Hall,' 7 which is in the centre of the building and separates the society 
halls. It is said that there are not two prettier or more handsomely 
furnished college-society halls in the South than those at Wake Forest. 
The walls, tastefully frescoed and panelled, are adorned with oil por- 
traits of members who have honored their alma mater and reflected 
credit on their societies. The "Phi" color is red and the u Eu" blue, 
and these colors are displayed on their banners and regalia. Their 
mottoes are, respectively, "Esse quam videri malo" and "Inveniam 
viam aut faciam." 

In preparing a young man for the active duties of life, these societies 
are worthy of special mention as an important adjunct of the college. 
Each Friday night and Saturday morning during the session is devoted 
to debate, reading of essays, and transacting the business of the society. 
The rules of parliamentary procedure are strictly enforced. The stu- 
dent has here an opportunity to formulate and express in his own lan- 
guage the information gathered in the recitation room. He learns to 
think and speak while on his feet. The proceedings of the societies are 
kept secret, but in February of each year they celebrate the anniver- 
sary of their organization by a public debate and orations. 

The Wake Forest Student, established in January, 1882, and second 
to no college periodical of its class in the country, is published by the 
societies. A medal is awarded each year to the student contributing 
the best article to this magazine. Besides this, each society gives an* 



LEADING DENOMINATIONAL COLLEGES. 109 

nually two medals, one for improvement in debate and the other for the 
best essay, open to competition among its members only. 

During the last fifty years the societies have made a noble record, as 
is attested by the success of their members in this and other States. 
With the increasing prosperity of the college, their future usefulness 
is assured. 1 

Greek-letter fraternities are not permitted in the college. 

INFLUENCE OF THE COLLEGE. 

Wake Forest has an honorable record. Since its foundation seveuty 
instructors and twenty-five hundred students have been connected with 
the institution. More than four hundred of the students have become 
ministers of the Gospel, eight have been college presidents, and a large 
number have been professors in various institutions. They have served 
their country in both the State and National Legislatures, have adorned 
the highest judicial tribunals of the State, and as farmers, teachers, 
physicians, merchants, and manufacturers have proved themselves good 
and progressive citizens. 

Wake Forest stands second to no educational institution in the State. 
The Faculty is liberal and progressive. It contains men who have been 
graduated with distinction at the University of Virginia, Leipsic, Johns 
Hopkins, and other well-known institutions. 

The last catalogue shows nine professors and a student attendance of 
two hundred, representing seven States. 2 

The close proximity of the college to the State capital gives its stu- 
dents a manifest advantage in the observation of political and economic 
phenomena. They have access to the State library and museums, and 
the privilege of attending the sessions of the State Legislature. Theirs 
is the advantage of both village and city life. 

Liberal and philanthropic friends, North and South, have established 
the institution on a good financial basis. Its influence is extending be- 
yond State limits, and its future is bright with promise. 

Davidson College. 

presbyterian influence. 

The pioneer promoters of advanced educational work in North Caro- 
lina were Presbyterians. It was through their endeavors that Queen's 
College was established. Failing to secure Royal recognition for that 
institution, the name was changed to Liberty Hall Academy and char- 
tered by the State Legislature. After the suspension of Liberty Hall 
the Presbyterians sent their sons to Princeton, Mt. Zion College in 

1 This account of the societies was prepared by the writer for a sketch of the col- 
lege which appeared in the Raleigh (N. C.) State Chronicle of June 11, 1886. 

2 Since the above was written two additional professors have been elected, and the 
student attendance has increased to two hundred and twenty-five. 



HO IllSrOKV oi" K1H CATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

South Carolina, and later to the University of North Carolina. It is 
said that it was through their efforts that the clause providing for a 
University was inserted in the State Constitution. But the expenses of 
educating at those institutions prevented many of the citizens of the 
western part of the State from giving their sons the advantage of col- 
legiate training, so they determined to have a college located in their 
midst. 

The first definite move for this purpose was a convention held at Lin- 
coluton in September, 1820, which was attended by representatives from 
both the Caroliuas. A board of trustees was named, and about the close 
of that year the State Legislature granted a charter for 

WESTERN COLLEGE. 

The charter was liberal in its provisions. The trustees constituted a 
close corporation without ecclesiastical connection or control. The rea- 
son assigned in the charter for the establishment of this college is "that 
the more western counties in the State are distant from Chapel Hill, 
which renders it inconvenient for their youth to prosecute their educa- 
tion there." It was provided that the institution should be located 
u somewhere to the south-west of Yadkin Eiver." More than half the 
trustees were Presbyterians. 

There was much opposition to the establishment of the college by the 
friends of the University. The trustees could not agree as to the loca- 
tion, or the selection of professors. They met from time to time till 
1824, when the project was abandoned. But the idea still lived, and 
the Presbyterians decided to establish a denominational college on the 
manual labor plan. The theory was that indigent students could do 
sufficient work to pay their college expenses, while the financially bet- 
ter-circumstanced would be benefited physically and mentally by the 
amount of labor required. 

DAVIDSON COLLEGE. 

At the meeting of the Concord Presbytery, then embracing that part 
of the State south-east of the Yadkin Eiver, at Prospect Church, in the 
spring of 1835, resolutions were adopted looking to the establishment 
of a Presbyterian college in that section. 

A prominent alumnus of Davidson, A. Leazar, Esq., in a recent ad- 
dress, referring to the early history of his alma mater, said: "The un- 
written story is that upon a black-board standing against the wall of 
the log house at Prospect was written, by the hand of Eev. Eobert H. 
Morrison, the modest and unambitious declaration of those wise men, 
that 4 with reliance upon God's blessing 7 they would undertake the estab. 
lishment of a school for the promotion of liberal learning l preparatory 
to the Gospel ministry.' To Eev. Messrs. E. H. Morrison, John Eobin- 
son, Stephen Frontis, and Samuel Williamson, with Elders Eobert Bur- 



LEADING DENOMINATIONAL COLLEGES. Ill 

ton, William Lee Davidson, John Phifer, and Joseph Young, was com- 
mitted the responsibility of preparing plans and selecting a location for 
the college." 

In the fall of 1835 arrangements were perfected to begin the erection 
of the necessary buildings, and the following summer a site was chosen 
in the northern part of Mecklenburg County, near the Iredell County 
line, which has been called "the literary and geographical centre of 
the State.' 7 William Lee Davidson, a son of General William Davidson^ 
donated the building site, besides a large tract of land and other valuable 
gifts. Eev. Dr. Morrison and Eev. P. J. Sparrow secured subscrip- 
tions amounting to $30,000. 

The institution was named Davidson College in honor of General 
William Davidson, who fell while bravely fighting for the liberty of his 
country at Cowan's Ford, on the Catawba Eiver, about 7 miles from where 
the college stands, on February 1, 1781. General Davidson was born 
in Lancaster County, Pa., in 1746. His father, George Davidson, 
came to North Carolina in 1750, and settled in that part of Eowan 
County which is now Iredell. General Davidson was probably edu- 
cated at Crowfield Academy and Queen's College. He entered the Con- 
tinental Army as major of the Fourth Eegiment of North Carolina 
troops, under Colonel Thomas Polk, in General Nash's brigade. He 
was with Washington the greater part of the time from 1776-79. He 
lost his life in the engagement with the forces of Lord Cornwallis at 
Cowan's Ford, to which reference has been made. His sword hangs in 
Davidson College Museum. The Continental Congress passed resolu- 
tions eulogizing him and ordered a monument to be erected to his mem- 
ory, which, however, was never done. No shaft marks his resting 
place. Davidson College is h^ monument. He could not have one 
nobler and, it is to be hoped, more enduring. 

The college was opened in March, 1837, with 66 students and the fol- 
lowing Faculty: Eev. E. H. Morrison, president ; Eev. P. J. Sparrow 
professor of languages ; and Mortimer D. Johnston, tutor of mathemat, 
ics. A charter was granted by the Legislature December 28, 1838. The 
manual labor system was introduced, but proving a failure here, as at 
Wake Forest College, it was abandoned after a trial of four years. 

In 1855 the institution was placed on a good financial basis by the 
magnificent bequest of Maxwell Chambers, of Salisbury, N.C., amount- 
ing to $258,000. But the limit of the endowment as provided by the 
charter was $200,000 ; so only that amount could be received. 

The college prospered until the outbreak of the Civil War. It con. 
tinued its operations during that conflict with from four to six profes- 
sors, and was not suspended till just before the surrender of Lee. It 
was, however, soon re-opened. About $100,000 of its endowment was 
lost by reason of the War. 

Since the establishment of the institution the following have held the 
office of president: Eev. E. H. Morrison, D. D., 1837-40 ; Eev. Samuel 



112 IliSTOKY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAItoLiNA. 

Williamson, D. D., 1841-54; Rev. Drury Lacy, D. D., 1855-60; Rev. 
J. L. Kilpatrick, D. D., 18G0-C6; Rev. G. W. MePhail, D. D., LL. D., 
1866-71.; Prof. J. R. Blake, A. M. (chairman of Faculty), 1871-77 ; Rev. 
A.D. Hepburn, D.D., LL. D., 1877-85; Rev. Luther McKinnon, D. D., 

1SS5. 

PRESENT STATUS OF THE INSTITUTION. 

The college is under Presbyterial control. It was established by the 
Concord Presbytery, but from time to time other Presbyteries have been 
invited to take part in the oversight of the institution, until now each 
of the Presbyteries in the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, 
Georgia, and Florida has representatives in the board of trustees. 

The endowment (invested funds) amounts to $105,009. There are 
thirteen separate buildings belonging to the college, valued at $150,000, 
viz: The main college building, the chapel, two society buildings, three 
dormitory buildings, and six professors' houses, all of brick, except 
three of the residences. 

There are five endowed scholarships, viz: One of $3,000, the Max- 
well Chambers scholarship, endowed by the Presbyterian Church of 
Salisbury, K C. ; one of $1,500, the D. A. Davis scholarship, also en- 
dowed by the Salisbury Presbyterian Church; two of $1,000, the 
George Bower scholarship, endowed by Mrs. A. C. Davis, of Salis- 
bury, and the Thomas Brown scholarship, endowed by Brown & Bro., 
of Winston, N. C; and one of $500, endowed by General R. Barringer 
and George E. Wilson, Esq., of Charlotte, N. C. Some of these entitle 
the incumbent to free tuition, and others go to pay the room rent and 
incidental expenses of the nominee. 

There are two literary societies connected with the institution, the 
Philanthropic and the Eumenean. Each has a commodious and hand- 
somely furnished hall. Their exercises consist in debate, declamation, 
and composition. Under their auspices the Davidson Monthly, a liter- 
ary magazine of merit, is published. 

Each society annually awards a debater's, an essayist's, and a de- 
claimer's medal ; and the two together award an orator's medal, which, 
in a public contest, is competed for by representatives from each society. 
The college and society libraries together number about 11,000 vol- 
umes. 

Greek letter fraternities are allowed, and each of the following has a 
chapter at the college : Mystic Seven, 2 A E, K A, and # A X. 

Two regular courses of study leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Arts 
and Bachelor of Science, each requiring four years, are provided. The 
requirements for admission are about the same as at the State Univer- 
sity. A post-graduate course leading to the degree of Master of Arts 
is offered. The classes are divided into Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, 
and Senior, and there is but little latitude allowed in the choice of elect- 



LEADING DENOMINATIONAL COLLEGES. 113 

ive studies. Davidson College is noted for thoroughness, and it ranks 
with the best colleges of the South. 

The necessary expenses of a student for the collegiate year of ten 
months is about $250, the same as at the University and other colleges 
of the State, 

The faculty numbers 8 professors, and during the session of 1886-87 
there were 119 students enrolled. 

Since the opening of the institution (including the session of 1886-87) 
there have been 1,875 young men enrolled as students, of whom 571 
have been graduated. 

Many of North Carolina's most honored and best known citizens have 
been and are alumni of Davidson. Not only North Carolina but many 
other States, especially of the South, have appreciated the influence of 
those who were educated at this institution. 

Trinity College. 

THE BEGINNINGS AND HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTION. 1 

Trinity College is managed by a board of trustees appointed by the 
North Carolina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 
It is distinctively a denominational college, and from humble begin- 
nings it is now ranked among the leading institutions for the higher 
education iu the State. It is located in Eandolph County, near the 
sources of the Cape Fear and Uwharrie Rivers, 5 miles from the town 
of High Point, on the North Carolina Railroad, and 100 miles west of 
the capital of the State. 

The beginnings of this institution are to be found in the grammar 
school, established in 1838, near the present location of the college, by 
the Rev. Brantly York, D. D. The following year this school was 
moved to the present site, a good framed building erected, and a char- 
ter secured from the Legislature for the institution under the name of 
Union Institute. The object of the founders was to establish an acad- 
emy in which their sons and those of their neighbors might receive a 
good practical education. 

In 1842 Dr. York resigned the management of the school, and Rev. 
B. Craven, then nineteen years old, was elected to take charge. From 
1843 to 1850 the annual gross income of the school varied from $300 to 
$1,800, the general average being about $1,200. For this period the 
student attendance varied from 28 to 184, the average being about 105. 

In January, 1851, the institution was rechartered, the name being 
changed to Normal College. By this new charter the school was 

1 The materials for this sketch are drawn from an address by Rev. Dr. B. Craven, 
'n The Centennial of Methodism in North Carolina, Raleigh, 1876, an account of 
Trinity College by Prof. J. k\ Heitman in the Raleigh Register, and data furnished 
by Mr. A. W. Long, now graduate student in English of the Johns Hopkins University, 
and late professor of history and English literature in Trftiity College. 
17037— No. 2 8 



114 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

brought under State supervision. The Governor of the State was made 
(w-oificio president of the board of trustees, and the superintendent 
of common schools, secretary. The object of this connection was to 
secure a better grade of teachers for the common schools. By a pro- 
vision of the charter a certificate from the Normal College was made 
lawful evidence of qualification to teach in the public schools, and no 
further examination was required. 

The institution became very popular, and the number of students 
rapidly increased. The good results that were expected from the nor- 
mal feature did not follow. On the contrary, it worked harm. Many 
received the normal certificate who were not at all adequately qualified 
for teaching the most elementary branches, and yet they were author- 
ized to teach in any common school in the State which might be open 
to them. During the normal period, 1851 to 1859, the average annual 
number of matriculations was 197, and the gross income for the same 
time averaged about $5,000 per annum. 

~~~vl 





Trinity College. 

At the annual session of the North Carolina Conference of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, South, held at Salisbury, in 1851, the first con- 
nection between the conference and this school was formed. The trus- 
tees of the college agreed that young men preparing for the ministry 
should be educated without charge 5 and in return the conference in- 
dorsed the institution and annually appointed a visiting committee. 

In 1853 the charter was amended, giving the college authority to con- 
fer any and all degrees and do all other acts usually granted to literary 
institutions of high grade. The trustees were loaned $10,000 from the 
State literary fund, which was used for building purposes. 

The management of the institution was transferred to the North Car- 
olina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1856. 
This transfer was not fully effected until 1858, and in 1859, by an act 



LEADING DENOMINATIONAL COLLEGES. 115 

of the Legislature, the college was vested iu the Conference, with all the 
rights and privileges usually granted in such cases, the name being 
changed from Normal to Trinity College. By this act all connection 
with the State was severed, all normal features annulled, and the in- 
stitution placed on the same footing as the other denominational col- 
leges. 

From 1859 to 1862 the gross income averaged $7,500 per annum and 
the number of students 204. During the War the exercises were con- 
tinued, but with a constantly decreasing number of students. In 1863 
President Craven resigned and Prof. W. T. Gannaway was placed in 
charge as president pro tempore, which position he held until 1865. On 
the arrival of General Hardee's corps in the village in April, 1865, exer- 
cises were suspended. Dr. Craven was re-elected preside at in 1865, and 
in January, 1866, the exercises were resumed. 

On November 7, 1882, the honored president and founder of the col- 
lege and one of the foremost men in the State, Rev. Braxton Craven, 
D. D., LL. D., died. His death was a sad blow to the institution, and 
it is just beginning to recover from the effects. Prof. W. H. Pegram 
was appointed chairman of the faculty until the trustees could elect a 
presiden t. 

In 1883 the Rev. M. L. Wood, D. D., became president. The insti- 
tution became embarrassed, and at the close of the fall term of 1884 Dr. 
Wood resigned. The number of students continued to grow smaller, 
and many of the friends of the college were despondent as to its future. 
Just at this juncture three noble laymen of the Methodist Church, 
Messrs. Julian S. Carr, J. W. Alspaugh, and James A. Gray, came for- 
ward and proposed to the Conference that they would give $3,000 per 
year, for two years, for the support of the college, provided they should 
be allowed. to manage the institution in their own way (subject to the 
general supervision of the trustees), and further provided that the Con- 
ference would contribute $2,500 per year as a supplement to their contri- 
bution. Their proposition was accepted, and they were constituted the 
u committee of management." 

President Wood and Prof. L. Johnson, of the chair of mathematics, 
having resigned, the remaining members of the faculty were retained 
under the new management. They were Prof. J. F. Heitman, chair- 
man of the faculty and chair of metaphysics ; Prof. M. T. Gannaway, 
chair of Latin and French ; and Prof. W. H. Pegram, chair of natural 
science. Mr. H. H. Williams, A. M., was elected professor of Greek and 
German; Mr. J. M. Bandy, Ph. B., of mathematics; and Mr. A. W. Long, 
A. B., of history and English literature. Mr. N. C. English, A. M., was 
elected professor of business law and principal of the preparatory de- 
partment. 

During the two years of this management, the college took several 
decided steps forward. The curriculum was broadened, examinations 
were made more rigid, and the system of grading examination papers 



IK) 111*1 'OK Y OV EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

made more strict. The number of students increased from 75 to 146 
and confidence in the future of the institution was restored. 

At the close of the session of 1886-87 the college again came under 
the control of the conference. Two additions have been made to the 
faculty. Rev. J. F. Crowell, A. B. (Yale) was elected president, and 
Prof. J. L.Armstrong (Randolph-Macon andLeipsie), professor of French 
and German. Professors Williams and Long having resigned in order 
to continue their studies, the former at Yale and the latter at Johns 
Hopkins, English and German were assigned to Professor Armstrong, 
Greek and metaphysics to Professor Heitman, and history and theology 
to President Crowell. No other changes were made except that Mr. 
Julius Hathcock was elected a tutor in the preparatory department. 

The degrees conferred in course are bachelor of philosophy, bachelor 
of arts, and master of arts. Four years are generally required for the 
completion of a course of study leading to a degree. The standard 
of admission is about a year below the requirements of the State Uni- 
versity, and consequently the standard of graduation has been lower; 
The new administration has already taken steps to raise the standard 
of instruction. 

There are two literary societies — the Columbian and the Hesperian — 
connected with the institution. They publish a college monthly. Greek 
letter fraternities were at one time permitted, but their influence being 
thought bad, they have been disbanded and are forbidden in the col- 
lege. The libraries of the literary societies have recently been added 
to the college library, which now numbers about ten thousand volumes. 
Medals for oratory and scholarship are awarded annually by the socie- 
ties and friends of the institution. 

Efforts are being made to raise a liberal endowment fund. One year 
ago this fund was only $6,000; now it is nearly $40,000, and it is ex. 
pected that it will reach $100,000 by the close of the present year. 

From the re-opening in 1866 to the present time the average attend- 
ance has been about one hundred and fifty. The brick building has 
been recently enlarged. There are now ample accommodations for two 
hundred students. The college property, including land, buildings, 
furniture, and apparatus, is valued at $50,000. 

The number of students now in attendance is the largest the college 
has had in ten years. The institution is stronger and more aggressive 
than it has been since the death of its founder, and its friends believe 
that a bright and useful career is opening up for it in the educational 
work of North Carolina. 







^ 



«;/■'■■',,;.;'..!.;■■:!■).:■.■ -■■;:. ;.7'' : ' ' ■'}:■■' ,:, '4h< A 



mp 



CHAPTER V. 
THE HIGHER FEMALE EDUCATION. 

FEMALE SCHOOLS. 

The State lias never made the least provision for the higher female 
education, and it was not until the beginning of the present century 
that organized individual or denominational effort was made to estab- 
lish female schools. 

In the promotion of the higher education, as well as of primary edu- 
cation, the best results can not, as a rule, be attained by individual or 
denominational endeavor operating without State competition, and so 
at no time have the girls of North Carolina had opportunities for intel- 
lectual development equal to those provided for the boys. The reason 
for this is that few individuals or denominations can provide for an in- 
stitution so munificently as can a State, and if able, some stimulus is 
generally necessary to induce them to do it. The male colleges have 
always had the State University to quicken them to emulation, and in 
their efforts to surpass it in equipment and in the character of the in- 
struction offered, steady growth and development have resulted. 

The first and best of the early female schools was the Salem Female 
Academy, founded by the Moravians in 1802, an account of which is 
given in this connection. Other female schools which flourished before 
the late Civil War, and still exist, are St. Mary's School (Episcopal), 
Raleigh, Wake County, established 1842 ; Greensborough Female College 
(Methodist Episcopal, South), Greensborough, Guilford County, 1846 ; 
Chowan Baptist Female Institute (Baptist), Murfreesboro', Chowan 
County, 1848 j Thomasville Female College, Thomasville, Davidson 
County, 1849; Asheville Female College (Methodist Episcopal, South), 
Asheville, Buncombe County, 1850; Wesleyan Female College, Mur- 
freesboro 7 , Chowan County, 1853; Charlotte Female Institute (Presby- 
terian), Charlotte, Mecklenburgh County, 1857; Select Boarding and Day 
School, Hillsborough, Orange County, 1857; Davenport Female College, 
Lenoir, Caldwell County, 1858 ; Mt. Pleasant Female Seminary (Ev. 
Lutheran), Mt. Pleasant, Cabarrus County, 1858. Of those that no 
longer exist the following were prominent : Lochiel, near Hillsborough, 
Orange County, opened and conducted for a while by Walker Anderson, 
at one time a professor in the University of North Carolina, and later 
chief -justice of Florida; Rock Rest, near Haw River, Alamance County, 
afterwards removed to Pittsborough, Chatham County ; Edgeworth Sem- 
inary, Greensborough, Guilford County, established under the auspices of 
Governor John M. Morehead ; Floral Female College, Shoe Heel, Robeson 

117 



118 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

County; and female schools at Williamston, Granville County; War- 
renton, Warren County; and Milton, Caswell County. 

The following institutions have been recently established: Peace In- 
stitute, Raleigh, Wake County, 1872; Shelby Female College, Shelby, 
Cleveland County; Mt. St. Joseph College (Roman Catholic), Hickory, 
Catawba County, 1880; Claremont Female College, Hickory, 1880; 
Statesville Female College, Statesville, Iredell County, 1883. Other in- 
stitutions of merit might be mentioned, for nearly every town in the 
State of any size has ^ts female academy. 

The following sketches of the leading fema\e schools, given in the or- 
der of their establishment, will show the character of the provision 
made for the higher education of women in North Carolina. 

SALEM FEMALE ACADEMY. 

The Salem Female Academy, so well and favorably known through- 
out the South, is located at Salem, Forsyth County, in the north-western 
part of the State. The property of the institution is valued at $200,000. 
Salem is situated immediately adjacent to Winston, and they are often 
called the "twin cities." These towns are in the midst of a rolling, 
woodland country, among the foot-hills of the Blue Ridge, at an eleva- 
tion of about 1,000 feet above the level of the sea. 

This school " is one of the five institutions of higher learning in the 
United States which are the property of the American Moravian 
Church, and are conducted under the supervision of the executive 
boards of its provinces, North and South. The first Moravian board- 
ing schools in this country were institutions in which the children of 
the church were educated. As their parents, by reason of the respon- 
sibilities incurred in their missionary enterprises, were incapacitated 
for providing for these children, their education and maintenance de- 
volved entirely upon the church. The sons and daughters of both lay- 
men and clergymen were accordingly placed at schools, whose govern- 
ment, domestic arrangements, and routine life closely resembled those of 
the family, and were, in fact, designed as far as possible to compensate 
their pupils for the loss of home. Parental training, thorough instruc- 
tion in useful knowledge, and scrupulous attention to religious culture 
were characteristics of those early schools, and are still the main feat- 
ures of the modern schools of which they were*the precursors." 

The following facts concerning the academy w T ere furnished the writer 
by Rev. Edward Rondthaler, D. D., one of the principals. Visitors in 
Salem toward the close of the last century were often impressed with 
the superior educational facilities enjoyed by the Moravian youth of 
this small town, and expressed the desire that their children might be- 
come partakers in their advantages. Thus the impulse was awakened 
in the minds of some of the Moravian people to serve God by minis- 
tering to the educational needs of the South. A work for girls was 
accordingly devised under the direction of an experienced educator, 



HIGHER FEMALE EDUCATION. 11 S 

Bishop Reichel, who had been the founder of a similar institution for 
boys in the North. 

All the conditions of such an enterprise needed to be supplied de novo 
and out of small means. Several years were thus occupied. Rev. 
Samuel Kramscb, a gentleman of fine scholastic culture, was appointed 
principal on October 31, 1802. Several ladies were selected as assist- 
ants. On October 5, 1803, the corner-stone of a new building was laid 
with appropriate ceremonies. The spirit which animated the founders 
appeared in the corner-stone document, which stated that the stone 
was laid " with fervent prayer to our Lord, that by the school to be 
established in this house, His Name may be glorified, His Kingdom of 
Grace be enlarged in this country, and the salvation of souls of those 
who shall be educated therein be promoted." This prayer has been 
fulfilled during four-score years to a degree which the founders could 
not have anticipated. 

On May 16, 1804, the first pupils came from abroad. The curriculum 
at that time was as follows : Reading, grammar, writing, arithmetic, 
history, geography, German, plain needle- work, music, drawing, and 
ornamental needle-work. Admittance was limited to the years between 
eight and twelve, and the stay terminated at the age of fifteen years. 
Gradually the number of pupils increased until every State in the South 
was represented, and some of them very largely. The curriculum was 
enlarged, until in the u select class" a fair collegiate course was enjoyed 
without graduation, however. The academy was only incorporated at 
a late date— February 3, 1866 — and its first diploma of graduation was 
conferred in 1877. 

The new academy building was erected 1854-56, during the principal- 
ship of the widely known and revered Rev. Robert de Schweinitz. 
There were at that time 216 boarding pupils, the largest number until 
theyears of the Civil War, when the school was overcrowded with pupils 
sent as much for shelter and protection as for education. 

The whole number of alumnae, not including day pupils, has been be- 
tween six and seven thousand. The number of graduates since 1877 
is 153. 

The school is regularly graded, with a four years' mathematical and 
classical course. Special advantages are offered in music, painting, draw- 
ing, and needle-work. A commercial course is also provided. Tech- 
nically, it belongs to the preparatory schools, its object being to carry 
its pupils to the standard of entrance required at Yassar, Wellesley, or 
Smith Colleges. 

The corps of instructors at this time numbers 26. During the session 
of 1886-87 there were 222 students in attendance, representing eleven 
States. 

The influence of the Salem Female Academy has been wide-spread. 
For many years it was the only institution of repute in the South for 
female education. Its pupils have, therefore, been unusually well rep- 



120 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

resented in the leading families of the South. A great many of its 
alumnae have become teachers and heads of seminaries and academies, 
carrying the thorough and painstaking methods of this school into their 
own institutions. It is probably owing to the iufluence of the Salem 
Academy that preparatory institutions for the education of girls are 
more numerous in the South, and, as a rule, better equipped than are 
similar institutions for boys. 

ST. MARY'S SCHOOL. 

This institution is located at Raleigh, the capital of the State. The 
buildings, six in number, are located in an oak grove of 20 acres, on 
elevated ground, a mile from the State capitol. Three of the buildings 
are of brick, two of stone, and one of wood. They are admirably ar- 
ranged for school purposes and are furnished with modern improve- 
ments. The school was founded in 1842, under the auspices of the 
Episcopal Church in North Carolina, and has operated continuously 
since. 

The Et. Eev. Theodore B. Lyman, D. D., is visitor of the school ; the 
Rev. Bennett Smedes, A. M., principal and rector, and Miss M. E. J. 
Czarmonska, lady principal. The academic staff numbers 16 teachers, 
and from February, 1886, to February, 1887, there were 197 students 
from nine States in attendance. 

The school is divided into primary, preparatory, and academic de- 
partments. In the primary department the best features of the kinder 
garten system are retained, while those suited only to the nursery are 
discarded. Three years are required to complete the preparatory 
course. The academic course is arranged for five years, but if accom- 
plishments are added more time is needed to complete it. The courses 
in French and German are each five years, and those languages are 
taught with much thoroughness. The department of music is one of 
the noted features of this school. It is under the direction of Dr. Au- 
guste Kiirsteiner, and the system pursued is modelled after that of the 
Leipzig Conservatory. 

GREENSBOROUGH FEMALE COLLEGE. 

The college building, a magnificent brick structure, is located near 
the western limits of Greensborough, in the center of a beautiful park 
of 40 acres. Greensborough is in the central part of the State, and is 
noted for the intelligence and social refinement of its citizen 

In 1837 the trustees of the Greensborough. Female School sent a pe- 
tition to the Virginia Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
asking that a female college, under the auspices of the denomination, 
be established at Greensborough. It was in this year that the North 
Carolina Conference began its separate existence. The petition was re- 
ferred to a committee, which reported favorably, and in 1838 the Xorth 
Carolina Conference secured a charter for the institution from the State 
Legislature, 



HIGHER FEMALE EDUCATION. 121 

This is tlie first female college chartered in North Carolina, and, with 
the exception of the Wesleyan Fetnale College at Macon, Georgia, the 
first south of the Potomac. 

A site for the institution, consisting*of 40 acres, was secured, and in 
September, 1843, the corner-stone of the college building was laid. 
This buildiug, costing about $20,000, was completed in the summer of 
1845. 

In 184G the institution was opened for students, with the Eev. Solo- 
mon Lea as president. Mr. Lea resigned in December, 1847, and was 
succeeded by the late Eev. Albert M. Shipp, D. D., afterwards profes- 
sor inVanderbilt University, Tennessee. In 1850 the Eev. Charles F. 
Deems, at that time a professor in the University of North Carolina and 
now pastor of the Church of the Strangers, in New York City, became 
president, who in turn was succeeded by Eev. T. M. Jones, D. D., in 1854. 

Owing to the large attendance the building was enlarged in 1856, 
and again in 1859. The building was burned August 9, 1863, and the 
War prevented the immediate rebuilding. 

In 1869 a new charter was secured for the institution, and a board of 
trustees was elected in 1870. The present school building was com- 
menced in 1871, and on August 27, 1873, the college was opened with 
9 teachers, and, under the presidency of Doctor Jones, has continued in 
successful operation since. 

A preparatory course, and a collegiate course requiring four years 
are provided. The faculty at this time numbers 15, and during the 
session of 1886-87 there were 186 students, representing six States, in 
attendance. 

CHOWAN BAPTIST FEMALE INSTITUTE. 

The Chowan Baptist Female Institute is located at Murfreesborough, 
Chowan County, in the north-eastern part of the State. The campus, 
embracing 28 acres, is a beautiful place. This institution is the pride 
of eastern Carolina, and is one of the best equipped and most thorough 
in the State. Its history is interesting as a successful denominational 
effort in behalf of the. higher female education. 

In 1848 the Bertie Union Meeting (Baptist), embracing the counties 
of Northampton, Hertford, and Bertie, recognizing the need for female 
education, sent a communication to the Chowan Baptist Association 
asking that a high school for girls be established by the association. 

This request was acted upon favorably, and trustees were appointed 
with instructions to make arrangements for such a school. 

The trustees purchased and fitted up a house and lot in Murfrees- 
borough at a cost of $1,225. The school was formally opened October 
11, 1848, with the Eev. A. McDowell, D. D., of South Carolina, a grad- 
uate of Wake Forest College, as principal. In 1849 small-pox in the 
town necessitated the suspension of the school, but work was resumed 
the following month, with Eev. M. E. Forey as principal, 



122 HISTORY OF EDUCATION. IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

The rapidly growing patronage of the school made it necessary to 
have larger buildings. So encouraging was the outlook that in 1851 a 
joint stock company took charge of the school, selected a new site, 
and contracted for the large and handsome brick building now occu- 
pied, which was completed the following year. The property at that 
time was estimated at $35,000, but with the improvements which have 
since been added it is valued at more than $50,000. The funds were 
contributed principally by the Chowan Association, though other as- 
sociations, especially the Portsmouth (Va.) Association, aided, hand- 
somely. With its enlarged facilities the institution was soon filled 
with young ladies from the States of North Carolina, Virginia, South 
Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Texas, Maryland, and New 
York, and the District of Columbia. 

Rev. Mr. Forey was succeeded in the principalship by Rev. William 
Hooper, D. D., LL. D., in 1854. The institute continued its work 
throughout the War, although it was not far from the scene of active 
military operations. 

In 1862 Dr. Hooper resigned and Dr. A. McDowell, who had returned 
to the institution in 1855 as professor of mathematics and natural 
science, was elected president. 

In 1878 the joint stock company gave the institute to the Baptist de- 
nomination. Although there are other Baptist schools in the State 
conducted by individuals, this is the only school property devoted to 
female education held by the denomination. 

On May 27, 1881, Dr. McDowell died. Prof. John B. Brewer, at that 
time president of the Wilson Collegiate Seminary for young ladies, 
was elected to the presidency, and assumed the duties of the position 
in October, 1881. President Brewer is one of the foremost educators in 
the State. He is a graduate of Wake Forest College, and has associated 
with him 8 teachers from some of the best schools of our country. 
There are two departments — the preparatory, requiring two years, and 
the collegiate, requiring four years, for completion. Since its founda- 
tion the average attendance at this school has been about 100, nearly 
all of whom were boarders. As an evidence of its prosperity it may 
be well to add that the present building is soon to be greatly enlarged 
to meet the increasing demand for room. 

THOMASVILLE FEMALE COLLEGE. 

This institution is located at Thomasville, in Davidson County, near 
the centre of the State. It was established in 1849, by Mrs. Charles 
Mock, and was called Silva Grove Female Seminary. During the pres- 
idency of Rev. Charles F. Deems, D. D., who was prominent in educa- 
tional work in North Carolina before the war, and is at this time a well- 
known pastor in New York City, it was chartered by the Legislature, in 
1855, as Glen Anna Female Seminary. Soon after this the school came 
under the management of Mr. John W. Thomas, who placed it on a bet- 



HIGHER FEMALE EDUCATION. 123 

ter basis by erecting a large four-story brick building and equipping it 
for school purposes. At the outbreak of the War the attendance num- 
bered one hundred and fifty young ladies, from several of the Southern 
States. The exercises were continued during the War. In 1867 the 
name of the institution was changed by act of the Legislature to Thom- 
asville Female College. After the death of Mr. Thomas, in 1873, the 
institution was closed for a year and a half. In 1874 the property was 
purchased by Prof. H. W. Keinhart, of Eichmond College, and the 
school re-opened. In 1879 a large addition was made to the building, 
making it one of the largest and most attractive school buildings in 
the State. In 1885 the Eev. J. N. S tailings, an alumnus of the Uni- 
versity of North Carolina, became principal. The institution is divided 
into primary, preparatory, collegiate, ornamental, and domestic depart- 
ments. The corps of instructors numbers nine, and the catalogue for 
1886-87 shows a student attendance of eighty-three. 

* PEACE INSTITUTE. 

This institution is situated at Ealeigh, about one mile from the State 
capitol. The grounds comprise 8 acres, artistically laid out and admir- 
ably suited for exercise and amusement. The main building, costing 
more than $40,000, is lighted by gas and electricity, and is heated by 
steam. It is claimed that it is the largest and best equipped school 
building in the State. 

In 1857 the plan of having a school of high grade for young ladies, at 
the State capital, was discussed by many prominent men in the North 
Carolina Synod of the Presbyterian Church. Steps were taken to es- 
tablish such a school, William Peace, an elder in the Ealeigh Presby- 
terian Church, heading the subscription list with $10,000, and it is in 
his honor that the school is called Peace Institute. 

Presbyterians throughout the State contributed liberally, and in 1858 
the erection of a building was commenced. 

The War prevented the opening of the school, and the Confederate 
government took charge of the building for hospital purposes. After 
the fall of the Confederacy, the Federal authorities took possession and 
used it for the Freedmen's Bureau. When the directors again got con- 
trol of the property it was in such a condition that they almost despaired 
of putting it in a suitable condition for school purposes, and were on 
the point of selling it to Eev. Dr. Tupper, president of Shaw University, 
for the use of a colored school, but some friends came forward and con- 
tributed sufficient funds to enable the directors to make the necessary 
repairs, and the building was made ready for the school. 

In 1872 the property was leased to Eev. E. Burwell, D. D., and his 
son, John B. Burwell, A. M., at that time principals of the Charlotte 
Female Institute, and since then it has been under their direction. 

Dr. Burwell has probably been connected longer with institutions for 
girls than any other educator in the State, In 1837 he opened a female 



124 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

school in Hillsboro'. In 1357 this school was removed to Charlotte, 
where it was known as the Charlotte Female Institute. This institu- 
tion is still one of the best female schools in the State. He continued 
the management of this school until his removal to Raleigh, in 1872. 

The growth of Peace Institute has been steady. The corps of in- 
structors numbers fifteen, and during the past five years the average 
enrolment has been over 200 students, representing more than half a 
dozen States. Instruction is given in the following departments : Col- 
legiate, normal, primary, and kindergarten, music, and fine arts. In 
thoroughness and equipment it stands second to no female school in the 
South. 

OXFORD FEMALE SEMINARY. 

The seat of this seminary is Oxford, Granville County, in the north- 
ern part of the State. 

This institution is the continuation of the Ealeigh Female Seminary, 
which was established in Ealeigh, about 1870, by the Eev. William 
Eoyall, D. D., now a professor in Wake Forest College, and one of the 
most learned men in the State. After the resignation of Dr. Eoyall, 
Prof. F. P. Hobgood became president, and in 1880 he moved the insti- 
tution to Oxford, changing the name to Oxford Female Seminary. 

The buildings of the Oxford Female Seminary, which were erected 
about 1850, were remodeled in 1880 at a cost of $4,500. Since that 
time about $5,000 additional have been spent in building and repairs. 
The school grounds are about four acres, beautifully laid out. 

The course of study comprises a preparatory and a collegiate depart- 
ment. There are nine teachers in the faculty, representing the Univer- 
sity of Virginia, the Stuttgart Conservatory Cooper Institute, and 
other well-known institutions of learning and art. During the session 
of 1885-86 there were one hundred and thirty-seven students enrolled, 
an increase on any previous year. 

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 

North Carolina has no Yassar or Bryn Mawr. The reason is obvious. 
With one or two exceptions all of the female schools are owned and 
directed by the principals. They can not be blamed for managing them 
in such a way as will remunerate them most, just as merchants and 
manufacturers manage their affairs. It is to be expected that they will 
add improvements, extend their curricula, and secure the best teachers 
only as they are forced to do so by rival institutions or the demands of 
public sentiment. Owing to the fact that none of these institutions are 
endowed, nor receive any income from any source other than from the 
pupils, they can not reach the highest degree of efficiency. It is well 
known that at the best colleges and universities of this country only a 
small fraction of the expenses are met by the fees from students. Until 
there is in the State a well endowed female college it can not be expected 



HIGHER FEMALE EDtJCATiOtf. 



125 



that the quality of the higher female education will be equal to that 
provided in most of the Northern States. 

But it must not be judged from the above that North Carolina has 
no good female schools, nor that they are managed wholly on selfish 
principles. The principals of these schools are men of liberal culture, 
devoted to their profession, and with the means at their disposal they 
deserve great credit for having placed the standard of instruction as 
high as it is. 

A well known professor in one of the leading female schools says that 
" the higher female education in North Carolina is not MgliP But while 
the courses of study in the female schools are not very extended, yet 
the instruction given, as far as it goes, is thorough. Most of these in- 
stitutions give from three to five years' courses in Latin, French, Ger- 
man, history, English language and literature, the natural sciences, and 
mathematics as far as and including trigonometry. 

The following schedule of classes and studies required at Peace In- 
stitute will give a fair and comprehensive view of the extent and char- 
acter of the subjects taught in the collegiate departments of the lead- 
ing female schools in the State, for in the main their curricula are 
about the same : 



Fiust Class. 


Second Class. 


First term, twenty 
weeks. 


Second term, twenty 
weeks. 


First term, twenty 
weeks. 


Second term, twenty 
weeks. 


Higher lessons in 

English.* 
Eeacling and spell- 
ing.! 


Higher lessons in 

English completed. 

Elocution and 

spelling. 


Grammatical 
analysis. 

Elocution and 
spelling. 


English synonymes. 

Elocution and 

spelling. 


Arithmetic to per- 
centage/ 


Arithmetic 

, J .. Algehra begun, 
completed. 


Algehra 
completed. 


j 
First lessons in _ , 

Physiology. Natural history, 
hotany. 


Physics. 


History of the ' . \ „„,■-, 
_ . , „ | History ot England. 
United States. ' * 


Ancient history 
commenced. 


i 
Ancient history 

completed. 


Latin grammar and ! _ 

Csesar. 
reader. 

1 


Sallust. 


Virgil. 


j French grammar. 
French grammar. Reading from 
1 different authors. 


Grammar. 

Reading from 

different authors. 

Composition or 

letters. 


Reading from 
different authors. 1 
Composition or 

letters. 


German grammar. 


_, Sprachlebrer 

German grammar, j . . , Reading from 

„ , , , continued. 

bprachlehrer. I . . different authors. 
Compositions. 



126 



HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 



Junior Class. 


Senior Class. 


First term, twenty 
weeks. 


Second term, twenty 
■weeks. 


Ftrst term, twenty | Second term, twenty 
weeks. weeks. 


Rhetoric 

and composition 

commenced. 

Elocution. 


Rhetoric 
and composition i English literature Principles 
completed. and elocution. of criticism. 
Elocution. 


Geometry. 


Trigonometry, Trigonometry, Arithmetic 
plane. J spherical. 1 reviewed. 


Chemistry. 


Geology. Physical geography. 

i history of science. 


General history 
commenced. 


General history 
completed. 


Moral philosophy 
Mental philosophy. ' and evidences of 
j Christianity. 


Cicero. ' Horace commenced. 


Horace completed. '■■ Livy. 


Grammar 

Larousse. 

Fables de Lafon- 

taine. 

Composition. 


Grammar 

Larousse. 

Litterature conteni- 

poraine. 

Compositions. 


Entretiens .sur la ; 

_, . Litterature 
Grammaire. 
.., ... classique. 
Mohere. 
~ . . Racine. 
Compositions. 


Selections from the 

classics. 

Compositions. 


"Weber's Literature. 
Compositions. 


Hayes' Grammar. ; Goethe. 
Compositions. Schiller. 



*A11 pupils are required to take these schools; the rest elective. 

t Spelling and dictation exercises through second year. 

I In lieu of these, book-keeping and advanced arithmetic can be taken. 

The charges for board and tuition in the regular course as represented 
above, in the leading female schools of the State, amount to about $250 
per annum. 

Nearly all the institutions of which accounts have been given provide 
good courses in vocal and instrumental music, in pastel, charcoal, and 
crayon drawing, and in oil and water-color painting, for which extra 
charges are made. One criticism of the higher education provided for 
young ladies in North Carolina is that more attention is given to the 
attainment of these accomplishments than to the acquirement of a sub- 
stantial education. A professor in one of these schools writes : "It seems 
to me that the more cultured (?) of our people care less for a substantial 
education for their girls than the masses do. Poverty and necessity 
are driving us from the heathenish notion that all the preparation a 
woman needs for the battle of life is a delicate body, a pretty face, and 
a musical voice." 



HIGHER FEMALE EDUCATION. 127 

The leading institutions have libraries varying from five hundred to 
two thousand volumes. As a rule their stock of scientific apparatus is 
small and insufficient. The great need of all these schools is funds. 

The cheapest and best way to educate the next generation is to edu- 
cate every girl of the present one. The mother gives more education 
that is of practical effect in life than all the teachers. It has been well 
said that "the physical,- mental, and moral muscles of a child are be- 
ginning to harden before he ever gets into the hands of a teacher." A 
better and more healthful sentiment in regard to the education of women 
is growing up in the Old North State, which, it is hoped, will soon de- 
velop itself in a practical way. 



CHAPTER VI. 

SECOND AEY INSTRUCTION. 

GENERAL CRITICAL SURVEY. 

Schools for secondary instruction are numerous, but it is impossible 
to collect full and reliable statistics concerning them. The State super- 
intendent of public instruction informs the writer that he does not know 
the number of private schools in the State, and that no provision is 
made for collecting information concerning them. The reports which 
they make to the United States Commissioner of Education are meagre 
and unsatisfactory, and private individual effort to reach them has 
proved unsuccessful. 

A stranger reading their catalogues and announcements might be led 
to suppose that many of them offer advantages for study superior to 
those of Phillips Exeter, and other excellent fitting schools in the East, 
but to one who has had an insight into their management and is ac- 
quainted with their workings such a supposition is impossible. 

The first criticism that the writer would urge is that they undertake 
too much. Some of these schools endeavor to offer the advantages of 
a college, while many of the so-called colleges are in reality secondary 
schools, but in attempting to place themselves on a higher plane than 
they are fitted to occupy they lose in thoroughness and efficiency. 

As a rule, no well ordered system of study and student advancement 
are provided in these schools, though there are several notable excep- 
tions to which reference will be made. The most noticeable defect in 
the educational system (if system it may be called) is in the primary 
training of the pupil. Proper attention is not given to the ground- 
work of his education. He is advanced from the primary to the pre- 
paratory department before the essential rudiments of an education have 
been mastered. The charge for annual tuition is determined by the stu- 
dent's grade; the schools are private property; the teachers are am- 
bitious ; the result is that it is not infrequent that the child is assigned 
work beyond his capacity. Parents as well as teachers are to be 
blamed for this. Many regard their children as intellectual prodigies 
and are dissatisfied if they are not rapidly promoted in school. In 
their eyes he is the best teacher who advances (?) his pupils fastest. If 
he attempts to hold the child to primary work longer than the parents 
think necessary, they withdraw their patronage and send to one who 
will gratify their vanity. It is pleasing to the pupil to be advanced 
rapidly from class to class. He is not yet old enough to realize the ad- 

128 



SECONDARY INSTRUCTION. I2d 

vantage of a thorough preparation. It is patent, therefore, that the self- 
interest of the teacher, the vanity of the parents, and the whim of the 
child, as represented above, tend to superficiality. 

After the student has been advanced from the primary to the prepar- 
atory department, the object in most cases is to get him in college as 
soon as possible, or if he is not fitting for college, to silver-plate him 
with a business course (?) which he is assured will answer his purposes 
in practical life without the necessity of submitting to college drill and 
discipline for four years. 

Instead of providing a broad and liberal course of study, the object of 
most of these schools is to give the student enough Latin, Greek, and 
mathematics to enable him to enter college with credit, and in but few 
instances is this result attained. Only the outlines of history are taught, 
and this in a superficial way; political economy is hardly ever included 
in the curriculum ; the courses in political and physical geography are 
short and unsatisfactory ; botany, geology, physiology, zoology, and nat- 
ural philosophy are barely touched upon; the modern languages are 
hardly ever taught; and the student is given such a meagre course in 
his own language and literature that in after life as a writer and speaker 
he is often made to feel the deficiencies of his early training. 

From the preparatory school the student goes to college, passes the 
entrance examination in Latin, Greek, and mathematics, enters upon 
advanced studies, and, at the end of four years is presented to the world 
as a graduate; but in few cases can he be said to be educated, in the 
full sense of what that word implies; for the defects of preliminary train- 
ing are too often manifest. 

For the more than one hundred secondary schools reporting from 
North Carolina, excepting only a few institutions, the above is true; and 
not only is it true for this State, but for many others of the Union, es- 
pecially in the South. 

GRADED SCHOOLS. 

The public graded schools in the larger towns, the first being estab- 
lished at Greensborough in 1875, are exerting a good influence in sys- 
tematizing and making more thorough primary and preparatory in- 
struction throughout the State. Maj. S. M. Finger, superintendent of 
public instruction, in his report for 1885-86, says : " These schools have 
done a great deal of good, not only in the communities in which they 
are located, but to the whole State. They are examples of the possible 
efficiency, popularity, and cheapness of education at public expense. 

" They are becoming so efficient as to command respect and patron- 
age of all classes of our people. I wish that every citizen of the State 
could spend a day in one of these well managed schools, because I think 
he would go away with a higher appreciation of the safety and practi- 
cability of public schools." 

By special acts of the Legislature, towns are permitted to vote upon 
17037— No. 2 9 



130 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

the establishment of these schools. The funds for their support are 
raised by special taxation and taxation under the common-school law. 
Each school is usually divided into about ten grades, each grade hav- 
ing a teacher and room to itself. One year is required to complete the 
studies in a grade. By a uniform system of examinations pupils are 
advanced to higher grades. In nearly all of these schools there is a 
library for the benefit of the pupils and a pedagogical library for the 
teachers. The teachers usually meet once or twice a month to discuss 
methods of teaching, study approved works on pedagogy, and have re- 
view lessons on the subjects taught in the schools. Students in these 
schools are prepared for entrance into the colleges and University of the 
State. There are seventeen graded schools in the State. The secretary 
of the board of trustees of the Durham Graded School, Mr. S. F. Tom- 
linson, who has given much attention to the study of educational sys- 
tems, gives it as his opinion that "Graded schools, properly conducted, 
are pre-eminently the schools for the towns and cities of the South, be- 
cause they afford the greatest and most improved facilities to all classes 
alike for obtaining an education free, or for the least money." 

COEDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. 

In North Carolina the opposition to the coeducation ot the sexes in 
the higher institutions of learning is so manifest that no one would dare 
propose, with any hope of success, that women be admitted to the 
University and leading denominational colleges of the State. But co- 
education is making headway in the institutions for secondary instruc- 
tion, and its friends claim that good results have been manifest. The 
rank that women are taking in some of the best of the English and 
American universities precludes the argument that they can not main- 
tain themselves in intellectual competition with the sterner sex, and 
so the objection that their admission would necessitate the lowering of 
the educational standard is not valid. The expediency of their admis- 
sion is an open question which the writer is not prepared to advocate ; 
but at this time when a number of the female teachers of the State are 
seeking admission to the normal department of the University, endowed 
by the State for the express purpose of giving the teachers of the State, 
a large proportion of whom are women, a better opportunity for special 
preparation in their profession, the question is practical to all North 
Carolinians and is worthy of careful study. 

The following co-educational institutions, established before the War, 
are still in successful operation: Friend's School (Quaker), New Garden, 
Eandolph County, established 1833 (the property of this school is val- 
ued at $40,000, and it has $23,700 in productive funds) ; Catawba Col- 
lege (German Reformed), Newton, Catawba County, 1850; Clinton 
Collegiate Institute, Clintou, Sampson County, 1850; Mt. Vernon 
Springs Academy, Mt. Vernon Springs, Chatham County, 1850; Oak 
Ridge Literary and Commercial Institute, Oak Ridge, Guilford County. 



SECONDARY INSTRUCTION. 131 

1850 ; Anson Institute, Wadesborough, Anson County, 1854 ; Yadkin 
College (Protestant Methodist), Davidson County, 1856; Rutherford 
Academy, Burke County, 1858 (chartered as Rutherford Seminary in 
1861, and as Rutherford College in 1870). The following have been es- 
tablished since the War: Weaverville College (Methodist Episcopal, 
South), Weaverville, Buncombe County, 1875 ; Concordia College 
(Evangelical Lutheran), Conover, Catawba County, 1875; Kinston Col- 
lege, Kinston, Lenoir County, 1876; King's Mountain High School, 
King's Mountain, Cleveland County, 1876 ; Moravian Falls Academy, 
Wilkes County, 1876; Judson College (Baptist), Henderson ville, Hender- 
son County, 1878; Graham Normal College, Graham, Alamance County, 
1880; Oakdale Academy, Oakdale, Alamance County, 1880; Gaston 
College (Lutheran), Dallas, Gaston County, 1882; Southern Normal, 
Lexington, Davidson County, 1884. Some of these institutions repre- 
sent a wide area of student patronage, e. g., during the session of 1886-87 
more than two hundred students were enrolled at Oak Ridge Institute, 
more than fifty of them coming from Virginia, South Carolina, New 
York, Texas, and Arizona, and the rest representing more than thirty 
counties in North Carolina, but a majority draw their entire student 
clientage from the State. 

Preparatory Male Schools. 

the bingham school. 

The Bingham School stands pre-eminent among Southern schools for 
boys, and ranks with the best in the Union. It is the oldest, the largest, 
and the most successful male boarding school for secondary instruction 
in the South, and for the past five years it has been second to no insti. 
tution of similar character in area of patronage. 

This noted school was established in 1793, by the Rev. William Bing- 
ham, a native of Ireland. He was educated for the church and was 
graduated with distinction at the University of Glasgow. Mr. Bing- 
ham became involved in one of the many unsuccessful attempts for 
Irish independence, and was compelled to seek safety and freedom in, 
another land. His dismission from the Presbytery of Belfast, of which 
he was a member, is dated April 14, 1788, soon after which date he 
sailed for America. Landing at New Castle, Delaware, he made his 
way to Wilmington, North Carolina, where he hoped to secure employ- 
ment as a teacher. He had failed in this and was about to give up in 
despair, when, by a sign given in taking a drink of water, he was rec- 
ognized as a Mason by some influential citizens, who thereupon exerted 
themselves in his behalf and secured for him the principalship of the 
Wilmington Academy. In 1793 he removed to Pittsborough and estab- 
lished the Bingham School. In 1801 he was made professor of Latin 
at the State University, which position he filled with credit till 1806, 
when he resigned to again open a private school, thinking that in this 



132 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

way lie could do more to advance the cause of education than by his 
work iu the University. The school was opened at Hillsborough, but was 
soon removed to Mt. Bepose, in Orange County, four miles from the 
present location, where he conducted it till his death in 1826. 

Eev. Mr. Bingham was succeeded by his eldest son, William J. Bing- 
ham, of whom it has been said that " It is hardly possible that any 
other man can ever again, be so pre-eminent in the State as Mr. Bing- 
ham was in his profession. He occupied a field previously unoccupied, 
and to remarkable opportunities he added remarkable ability. He 
raised teaching from an almost disreputable employment to an honor- 
able profession ; he raised tuition fees from $20 per year at the highest 
to $150 per year. He refused three hundred applications for admission 
in a singleyear, and though he conscientiously avoided accumulating 
money, he became, in spite of himself and his numerous charities, a 
man of comparative affluence." 

For twenty years William J. Bingham conducted the Bingham School 
at Hillsborough, where he established it after the death of its founder. 
Then it was removed to Oaks, in Orange County, where it remained un- 
til, in the winter of 1864-65, the seat of the school was fixed permanently 
at its present location (Bingham School P. O.) in the same county, near 
Mebane, 50 miles west of Ealeigh, on the North Carolina Railroad. 

In 1857 he associated his sons, William and Eobert, with him in the 
management, they having been graduated at the State University with 
the highest distinction. 

The school was incorporated by an act of the Legislature of 1864-65; 
the military feature, which had been introduced during the War, was 
formally ingrafted ; its' officers were commissioned by the State, and its 
pupils were exempted from duty till they were 18 years of age. Al- 
though the Confederacy was tottering to its fall, log huts were built 
and the cadets went regularly into camp. Soon after the War began, 
the present principal, then the junior teacher of the school, entered the 
army and remained there till the surrender at Appomattox. His father, 
who died in 1866, and his elder brother continued the school throughout 
that eventful struggle. 

William Bingham, as senior principal, conducted the school with dis- 
tinguished success till his death in 1873. He was the author of a series 
of Latin text-books, which the publishers say are used in every State 
in the Union ; certainly there is hardly an institution of note in North 
Carolina in which they are not used. 

The Bingham School has reached its greatest efficiency under its pres- 
ent superintendent, Major Eobert Bingham. 

The log huts in which the cadets were quartered when the school was 
first removed to its present site have been replaced by frame buildings, 
with increased accommodations. The lecture halls, society halls, and 
barracks are excellently equipped for their specific purposes, and a 



SECONDARY INSTRUCTION. * 133 

gymnasium and bath-house, with swimming baths, have been added to 
the school buildings. The buildings are provided with gas. 

The motto of the school is "Mens sana in corpore sanof* and physical 
culture receives the attention which its importance demands. " Bing- 
ham's is the only school in North Carolina, and one of only 40 in the 
United States, which has an officer detailed from the U. S. Army as 
commandant of cadets. The military feature has been found of great 
value as a means of physical culture and as an aid to discipline. At 
the same time the drill is not allowed to interfere in any degree with 
study, the object being to make, not soldiers, but citizens." (Cat., 
art. 4.) 

The Bingham School does not claim to be a cheap school, though for 
the advantages offered there is none cheaper known to the writer. The 
actual school expenses for a term of forty weeks is $272. This does 
not include uniform, etc.; and the necessary expenses of a student per 
year, all told, are from $400 to $500. Three courses are provided, viz, 
classical, mathematical, and commercial. A regular course occupies 
four years, on the satisfactory completion of which the student is given 
a certificate of proficiency. Major Bingham says : " It is a training 
school, pure and simple, not a college or a collegiate institute, though 
its certificate of proficiency, as indicated by the demand for its profi- 
cient graduates as teachers and the pay they command, is more valu- 
able than a similar certificate from any other school in the South, and 
more valuable than a diploma from many of the colleges." 

During the session of 1886-87 there were 220 students in attendance 
from 15 States and the District of Columbia. The present faculty 
numbers 8 teachers. 



The Horner School was established at Oxford, in Granville County, 
in 1851, under the auspices of the present senior principal, Prof. J. H. 
Horner. 

For scholarship and thoroughness this school has but few equals 
in the State. It is a classical, mathematical, scientific, and military 
academy. 

Two courses of study are provided, the " classical," and the " scientific 
and English." Each course is arranged for four years. The require- 
ments are as follows: 

I. The classical course embraces the studies in the schools of Latin, Greek, mathe- 
matics, English grammar and rhetoric, geography, history. 

II. The scientific and English course embraces the studies in the schools of math- 
ematics, natural science, metaphysics, English grammar and rhetoric, geography, 
history. 

French, German, and book-keeping are elective studies, "which may be substituted 
for their equivalent in the regular courses, or taken in addition to them. 

Every student, on his admission into the school, is assigned to those classes in the 
regular courses for which he is found qualified. 



13-i 



HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 



Scheme of morning recitations. 
[Daily except Friday.] 



Class 
room 
No. 


S.30 to 9. 


9 to 9.45. 


9.45 to 10.30. 


10.30 to 11.15. 


11.15 to 12. 


1 




Penmanship and 

book-keeping. 
....do 


Latin, first class . 

Latin, fourth 
class. 

English gram- 
mar, third 
class. 

Natural science, 
second class. 


Latin, second 

class. 
Greek, first 

class. 
Latin, third 

class. 

English gram- 
mar, fourth 

class. 


English grammar, 

first class. 
English grammar, 

second class. 
Geography or his- 

tory, fourth 

class. 
Natural science, 

fourth class. 


Greek, second 
class. 


3 


. do 


Geography or his- 
tory, third class. 

Natural science, 
fourth class. 


4 


...do 



[Friday.] 



1 j English composi- 
tion. 
..do 



.do. 



.do. 



Latin, first class. 

Latin, fourth 
class. 

English gram- 
mar, third 



Military tactics 



Latin, second 

class. 
Greek, first 

class. 
Latin, third 

class. 

English gram- 
mar, fourth 
class. 



English grammar, 

first class. 
English grammar, 

second class. 
Geography or his- 

tory, fourth 

class. 
Experimental work in natural science. 



Metaphysics. 



Greek, second 
class. 

Geography or his- 
tory, third class. 



Scheme of afternoon recitations. 
[Daily except Friday.] 



Class 
room 
No. 


2 to 2 30. 


2.30 to 3.15. 


3.15 to 4. 


4 to 4.45. 


4.45 to 5.30. 


1 

9 


Penmanship and 

book-keeping. 
...do 


Mathematics, 
fourth class. 

French 

Mathematics, 

third class. 

Natural science, 

first class. 


Metaphysics — 


[Reading and 

spelling. 

1 

J 




3 

4..... 


....do 

do 


Mathem a t i c s, 
second class. 

Mathem a tics, 
first class. 


Military drill. 



[Friday. 



1 

2 

3 

4 



English composi- 
tion. 
..do 



.do. 
.do. 



Geography, first 
class. 

Geography, sec- 
ond class. 

Geography, 
fourth class. 

Geography, 
third class. 



History, first 

class. 
History, second 

class. 
History, fourth 

class. 
History, thhd 

class. 



J> Declamation 



Military drill. 



SECONDARY INSTRUCTION. 135 

The student, besides being subjected daily to quizzes by his instruct- 
ors, is given oral and written examinations at the close of each session 
on all the subjects studied. A report of the standing, punctuality, and 
deportment of each student is made out at the close of every quarter 
and sent to his parents or guardian. The student's standing in his class 
is estimated by the instructor, and marked on a scale in which the num- 
ber 7 is taken as a maximum, and stands for " very good;" 6, u good"; 
5, "very respectable' 7 ; 4, " respectable " ; 3, " tolerable" ; 2, "bad"; 1, 
" very bad." Students are not advanced to a higher class until they 
have stood an approved examination on the studies of the preceding 
class. 

The school is strictly military in its organization and discipline. 

The annual register for 1885-86 shows four instructors, and a student 
attendance of one hundred and six, from four States and the District of 
Columbia. The principals say that "improvements will continue to be 
made in our accommodations, but the capacity of the school will not be 
enlarged. We do not desire any considerable increase in our numbers, 
satisfied as we are that efficiency in the management of a school is best 
secured with a limited number of pupils." 

OTHER SCHOOLS OF MERIT. 

Prominent among the schools deserving to be mentioned in this con- 
nection is the Ealeigh Male Academy, at Ealeigh, reopened by Pro- 
fessors J. J. Fray and Hugh Morson, both of the University of Virginia, 
in 1878, and which, since the death of Captain Fray, in December, 1884, 
has been under the efficient management of Professor Morson and Capt. 
C. B. Denson, two of the best known and most popular teachers in the 
State. 

This school has no regular curriculum. The subjects taught may be 
divided into the following general classes, viz : 

I. The usual English branches,, with mathematics. 
II. The Latin and Greek languages and their literature. 

III. The French and German languages and their literature. 

IV. The natural sciences. 
V. Book-keeping. 

Every pupil is required to take throughout his connection with the 
school orthography, penmanship, English composition, and declamation. 

The average student attendance is about one hundred. 

The writer was connected with this school as an assistant teacher in 
1884, and is prepared to commend it for thoroughness and substantial 
work. 

The early history of the Raleigh Male Academy is thus given by 
President Kemp P. Battle, of the University of North Carolina, in a 
centennial address on " The Early History of the City of Raleigh," de- 
livered in that city July 4, 1876 : 

"The attention of the people of Raleigh was early directed to the 



136 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

subject of education. The most active man in inaugurating schools 
was Joseph Gales, the editor of the Register, one of the most enlight- 
ened lathers of Raleigh. The following is the list of trustees elected 
March 27, 1S02: John Ingles, William White, Nathaniel Jones (of 
White Plain), Henry Seawell, Simon Turner, William Boylan, John 
Marshall, and Joseph Gales. Nathaniel Jones, who had donated $100, 
was chosen president, and Joseph Gales secretary. 

" One mouth afterwards $800 is reported subscribed, and soon an acad- 
emy is built, by permission of the General Assembly, on Burke Square, 
one building for the males and one for the females. 

6 * This academy became a power in the land. It grounded the educa- 
tion of nearly all the boys of that day in central North Carolina. It 
was the pride and glory of Raleigh for a third of a century. 

" The academy began in grand style. In 1804 we read an advertise- 
ment which announces the teachers as follows : Rev. Marin Detarg- 
ney (late of Princeton, and of the College of Maryland) as principal ; 
Chesley Daniel, graduate of the University of North Carolina and late 
one of the tutors, assistant ; Miss Charlotte Brodie, teacher of needle- 
work. 

" Greek, Latin, Spanish, French, mathematics, with application to the 
system of the world, astronomy, navigation, etc., all at $5 per quarter. 
A less amount might be had for $4 per quarter. The English branches 
were $3 per quarter, and needle- work free. 

" Such array of all the sciences seems to have been above the demands 
of young Raleigh, and in 1810 it is announced by William White, the 
secretary of the board, that the trustees of the academy had engaged 
the Rev. William McPheeters, from Virginia, a gentleman eminently 
qualified for the undertaking, to become the principal of the academy 
and pastor of the city. 

" The leaders in the great contest with the social and political evils of 
the day, those who must drill the young to their full powers and enable 
them to cope with the active, adventurous, nothing-fearing, all-daring 
spirit of this age, are the teachers of the land. Our people, captivated 
by the eloquence of the statesman, or the brilliant achievements of the 
warrior, do not fully appreciate the grandeur of their calling. * * * 

" Dr. William McPheeters was one of the best of his class, painstaking, 
conscientious, thorough, parental and kind to the dutiful, but a terror 
to the truant. High-minded, brave, frank, abhorring all meanness, he 
not only instructed the minds of his boys, but he trained their con- 
sciences to aim at his own lofty standard. 

a He was, too, pastor of the city for several years. His ministrations 
in the Commons Hall were attended by all; and Episcopalians and 
Baptists, Presbyterians and Methodists, in their triumphs and their 
sorrows, on the bed of sickness and in the hour of death, found in him a 
sympathizing friend, a safe counsellor, a true, tried, well-armed, Great- 
Heart, 



SECONDARY INSTRUCTION. 137 

"Under this remarkable man the Raleigh Academy grew and flour- 
ished, and the Raleigh people, insensibly looking up to him as a common 
guide, were a united community, unpretentious, sociable, cordial to one 
another, and cordial to strangers." 

For a number of years this academy, previous to coming under its 
present management, was conducted by the Lovejoys, who during their 
lifetime were as noted educators as the Binghams. 

Owing to the fact that Burke Square, where the school was conducted 
for many years from its organization, was fixed upon as the site of the 
new residence for the Governor, another location for the school had to 
be chosen. An entire square in the north eastern part of the city was 
secured, on which a large, well- ventilated, and comfortable building was 
erected, fully adapted to the requirements of the school. This building 
has been occupied since September, 1883. 

The Davis School, a classical and military institution, established 
by Col. A. 0. Davis, at La Grange, Lenoir County, in 188 L, is rapidly 
gaining a wide reputation. In many respects it is modelled after the 
Bingham School. Its student attendance embraces a large number 
of States. The faculty is able and progressive and includes graduates 
from some of our best institutions. This school, as do the Bingham, 
the Horner, and other leading institutions of the State, maintains ex- 
cellent literary societies in which the students are required to debate, 
declaim, and prepare essays. It also has a good cadet cornet band and 
orchestra. 

Other schools for secondary instruction might be mentioned in this 
connection, but the above are sufficient to show the characteristic feat- 
ures of these institutions in North Carolina. 

Ante-bellum Male Schools, 
caldwell institute. 

This institution, named in honor of the Rev. Joseph Caldwell, D. D., 
first president of the State University, was instituted and managed by 
the Orange Presbytery. It was established at Greensborough and began 
the work of instruction January, 1836, the Rev. Dr. Alexander Wilson 
and Mr. Silas C. Lindsay being the first teachers. To these was added 
the Rev. John A. Gretter. Dr. Charles Phillips says : " This trio taught 
a school of the highest pretensions ever known in North Carolina. Its 
students joined the Junior class in the University." 

This institute was removed to Hillsborough sometime about 1846. 
It succeeded the Bingham School at that place, and was in turn suc- 
ceeded a few years later by the school of Mr. Ralph Graves, father of 
Professor Graves, of the University. 

The Graves School was succeeded by the Hillsborough Military 
Academy. 



loS HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

HILLSBOROUGH MILITARY ACADEMY. 

This school was founded in February, 1S59, by Col. Charles C. Tew, a 
native of South Carolina. Colonel Tew was educated at the Citadel, 
the South Carolina Military Academy. Soon after being graduated 
he was appointed to a professorship in the Arsenal, a branch, of the 
Military Academy, where he remained, with the exception of a year 
spent in study in Europe, until 1858, when he decided to establish a 
military academy in North Carolina. Excellent brick barracks, one 
mile from Hillsborough, were erected for this school. 

At the outbreak of hostilities Colonel Tew entered the Confederate 
army and lost his life in the service. Major Gordon, one of the assist- 
ant teachers, conducted the school during the War. After the War it 
was attempted to revive the institution, at first under Colonel W T hite 
and then under General Colston, but upon the latter's removal to 
Wilmington in 1868 the school was closed, until in 1874 it was revived 
under Messrs. Graves and Horner, who had been conducting a school 
at Oxford, but in a few years, for want of satisfactory patronage and 
other reasons, it was again closed and has not been re-opened since. 

THE NORTH CAROLINA MILITARY INSTITUTE. 

At one time this was one of the noted institutions in the State. It 
was located in the suburbs of Charlotte. 

The corner-stone of the main building, an imposing brick edifice, 
built in the Gorman castellated style of architecture, situated in a campus 
of twenty-seven acres well shaded by oaks, was laid in 1858, and, the 
building having been completed, the work of instruction was com- 
menced the following year. It is said the building was planned by 
General " Stonewall" (T.J.) Jackson, who at one time contemplated 
opening a military academy with his brother-in-law. General D. H. Hill, 
in Charlotte. The school was opened with General D. H. Hill as super- 
intendent, assisted by General Lane, Col. Charles Lee, and one or two 
others. 

The War closed its halls. The institution was revived in 1873 by 
Col. John P. Thomas, of South Carolina, at one time principal of the 
Citadel Academy, in that State, who conducted it for several years. 
The building is now used by the graded school. 

Other institutions could be mentioned, but the above were the most 
prominent of the schools organized before the Civil War, and which 
have since gone down. 

Bev. John Chayis, 

a distinguished colored educator. 

One of the most remarkable characters in the educational history of 
North Carolina was a negro. His life finds no parallel in the South, nor, 
so far as the writer is aware, in any part of our country. To one who 



SECONDARY INSTRUCTION. 139 

is familiar with the status of the negro in the slave-holding States in 
the first half of this century, the following will read stranger than fic- 
tion, but of its truth there can be no question. This man, with a his- 
tory so unique, was the Rev. John Chavis, a Presbyterian clergyman 
and an eminent teacher. His contemporaries admired him for his noble 
bearing as a gentleman, revered him for his fervent piety as a Christian, 
and respected him for his eminent ability as a teacher and preacher. 

The Rev. Charles Phillips, D. D., LL. D., of the University of North 
Carolina, made an effort, several years ago, to collect materials for a 
sketch of Mr. Chavis, and the data for this account are drawn princi- 
pally from correspondence which he has kindly placed at my service. 
These letters are from well-known citizens who were personally ac- 
quainted with the negro divine. He is remembered by them as an old 
man, after he had retired from the work of teaching, and of his early 
life but little is known. 

The birthplace of John Chavis can not be located with certainty, but 
it is probable that he was born near Oxford, in Granville County. The 
name is still common in the northern central section of the State. . It is 
evident that he was born free. He studied at Princeton as a private 
pupil of Dr. Witherspoon, to whom, it is said, he was sent to see if a 
negro were capable of receiving a collegiate education. His career in 
after life leaves no doubt as to the success of the experiment. It is be- 
lieved that he went from New Jersey to Virginia with the Rev. Samuel 
Davies, where he actively engaged in the work of the ministry. At the 
instance of the Rev. Henry Patillo he returned to North Carolina about 
1805. 

Previous to his connection with the Orange Presbytery (N. C.) in 
1809, he had been connected as a licentiate with the Lexington and 
Hanover Presbyteries in Virginia. The records of the Hanover Pres- 
bytery show that he was " riding as a missionary under the direction 
of the General Assembly" in 1801. In 1805 he was granted dismission 
from the Hanover Presbytery to join the Orange Presbytery. He united 
with the latter in 1809, being received as a licentiate. He ministered 
to churches in Granville, Wake, and Orange Counties. The late George 
Wortham, a distinguished lawyer of Oxford, in a letter of May 22, 1883, 
writes: "I have heard him read and explain the Scriptures to my fath- 
er's family and slaves repeatedly. His English was remarkably pure, 
contained no 'negroisrns;' his manner was impressive, his explanations 
clear and concise, and his views, as I then thought and still think, en- 
tirely orthodox. He was said to have been an acceptable preacher, his 
sermons abounding in strong common sense views and happy illustra- 
tions without any effort at oratory or any sensational appeals to the pas- 
sions of his hearers. He had certainly read God's Word much and med- 
itated deeply on it. He had a small but select library of theological 
works, in which were to be found the works of Flavel, Buxton, Boston, 
and others. I have now two volumes of Dwight's Theology which were 



140 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

formerly in his possession. He was said by his old pupils to have been 
a good Latin and a fair Greek scholar. He was a man of intelligence 
on general subjects, and conversed well. I do not know that he ever had 
charge of a church, but I learned from my father that he preached fre- 
quently many years ago at Shiloh, Nutbnsh, and Island Creek churches 
to the whites." 

Mr. Chavis opened a classical school soon after his return to his native 
State, and during his career as a teacher he taught in Granville, Wake, 
and Chatham Counties. His school was patronized by many of the 
most distinguished men in the State. Prominent among his pupils were 
Willie P. Mangum, Priestly Hinton Mangum, Archibald E. and John 
L. Henderson, sons of Chief Justice Henderson, Governor Charles 
Manly, Eev. Williams Harris, Dr. James L. Wortham, the Edwardses, 
the Enlows and the Hargroves. Many of his students became promi- 
nent as politicians, lawyers, preachers, physicians, and teachers. Prof. 
J. H. Horner, principal of the Horner School, Oxford, one of the oldest 
and best high schools in the State, in a letter of May 14, 1883, says : 
" He had a well attended classical school in Wake County. My father 
not only went to school to him but boarded in his family.' 7 He says 
that what his father knew he got at this school, and adds that, " Cha- 
vis was no doubt a good scholar and a good teacher, and hence was 
patronized by the best people of the country. * * * The school was 
the best at that time to be found in the State. " 

This worthy man of God was stopped from preaching by the law en- 
acted by the Legislature in 1832, silencing ail colored preachers in North 
Carolina, in consequence of u the Nat Turner insurrection of the pre- 
vious year." At the one hundred and twenty-fourth session of the 
Orange Presbytery, held in Raleigh, we find the following on the record, 
dated April 21, 1832: " A letter was received from Mr. John Chavis, a 
free man of color, and a licentiate under the care of the presbytery, 
stating his difficulties and embarrassments in consequence of an act 
passed at the last session of the Legislature of this State, forbidding free 
people of color to preach : Whereupon, Resolved, That presbytery, in 
view of all the circumstances of the case, recommend to their licentiate 
to acquiesce in the decision of the Legislature referred to until God in 
His providence shall open to him the path of duty in regard to the exer- 
cise of his ministry." From this time till the death of Mr. Chavis, in 
1838, when about seventy-five years old, we find the presbytery making 
provision for his support. In 1838 we find this record: "Presbytery 
resolved to continue the support of the widow of John Chavis." In 
1842 it was reported to the presbytery that she no longer needed pecun- 
iary aid from that source, and the case disappears finally from the 
records. After oeing debarred from preaching, Mr. Chavis published a 
sermon entitled "The Extent of the Atonement," which was sold for his 
benefit, at 15 cents per copy, and widely circulated. John Chavis is de- 
scribed as of dark brown complexion, without any admixture of white 



SECONDARY INSTRUCTION. 141 

blood in his veins. He was a robust, corpulent man, with large, round 
clean-shaven face, expressive of benevolence and its kindred virtues. 
His stature was about 5 feet 7 inches in height. He was always neat in 
dress and usually wore a suit of black home-spun, with spotless linen and 
a nicely-tied white cravat. In his latter years his woolly hair was as 
white as driven snow, adding to the dignity of his appearance. 

He frequently visited his former pupils, by whom he was well received, 
heartily welcomed, and kindly entertained. Mr. Paul 0. Cameron, a 
distinguished friend of the University, and probably the wealthiest man 
in the State, in a letter of April 24, 1883, writes: "In my boyhood life 
at my father's (Judge Cameron) home I often saw John Chavis, a ven- 
erable old negro man, recognized as a free man and as a preacher or 
clergyman of the Presbyterian Church. As such he was received by 
my father and treated with kindness and consideration, and respected 
as a man of education, good sense, and most estimable character." He 
says it excited the wonder of the slaves to see one of their race so pleas- 
antly received by their master. Mr. Cameron further says : " He seemed 
familiar with the proprieties of social life, yet modest and unassuming, 
and sober in his language and opinions. He was polite — yes, courtly- 
but it was from his heart and not affectation. I remember him as a 
man without guile. His conversation indicated that he lived free from 
all evil or suspicion, seeking the good opinion of the public by the sim- 
plicity of his life and the integrity of his conduct. If he had any vanity, 
he most successfully concealed it. He conversed with ease on the topics 
that interested him, seeking to make no sort of display, simple and 
natural, free from what is so common to his race in coloring and dic- 
tion. * * * I write of him as I remember him and as he was appre- 
ciated by my superiors, whose respect he enjoyed." 

Such, in brief outline, was the life and activity of one of nature's no- 
blemen. 

"His life was gentle ; and the elements 
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up, 
And say to all the world, ' This ivat a man ! 7 " 



CHAPTER VII. 
EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS OF THE FRIENDS, 

FIRST SETTLERS. 

Friends and Baptists, who were, as a rule, fugitives from ecclesias- 
tical oppression, were the first to make North Carolina their permanent 
home. New England Puritans and Virginia Churchmen were equally 
zealous in adopting and enforcing measures to maintain their respect- 
ive creeds, and their restrictions and persecutions forced many good 
people to seek homes where liberty could be had to worship God ac- 
cording to the dictates of conscience. In Carolina such a refuge was 
found. 

George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends, began preaching 
in England in 1647, and nine years later the first Friends to come to 
America settled in Massachusetts. Driven thence by hostile legal en- 
actments, some fled to Virginia, but finding no more cordial reception 
there, they journeyed further south. Martin, in his history of North 
Carolina, under date of 1660, says: "The Legislature of Virginia hav- 
ing passed laws unfavorable to the Quakers, a number of whom had 
fled thither from the persecuting spirit of New England, many families 
sought an asylum on Albemarle Sound." 

The first permanent settlement in the province was made about 1660 
at Durant's Neck, in what is now Perquimans County, in the north- 
eastern part of the State, by a small colony of Friends, which soon be- 
came and has since remained the nucleus of a large settlement of that 
sect. Hawks says that "The oldest land title in North Carolina, and 
that which we think was actually the first, is still on record. It is the 
grant made by Cistacanoe (Kilkocanen?), kingof the Yeopim Indians, in 
1662, to Durant, for a neck of land at the mouth of Little and Perqui- 
mans Eivers, which still bears the name of the grantee. In 1663 Berkeley 
confirmed this grant by a patent under his own signature." It has been 
established that this George Durant was a Friend, and here we find 
him purchasing land from the rightful owner as did that more illustri- 
ous follower of Fox, William Penn, at a later day. This grant of the 
Indian king antedates that given by Charles II to the Lords Proprie- 
tors by several months. 

From the time of the first settlement till the transfer of the province 
to the Crown in 1729, it is estimated that the Friends numbered at least 

142 



EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS OF THE FRIENDS. 143 

one-half of the population. In 1671-72 the colony was visited by Wil- 
liam Edmundson and George Fox, and it is probable that an organiza- 
tion of the Society of Friends was established about that time, it being 
the first religious body organized in the State. Dr. Nereus Mendenhall 
claims that it antedates the Penn organization in Philadelphia by some 
ten years. The first Quarterly Meetings established were the Eastern, 
previous to 1689, and the .New Garden, in 1688. The earliest of the 
preserved records of the Yearly Meeting date from 1708. 

It is worthy of note that it was in this State that the Friends first 
became influential in the administration of civil affairs. One of the best 
of the early Governors of North Carolina was a Friend, John Arch- 
dale, a Proprietor, whose administration began in 1795. By his wis- 
dom, prudence, and sagacity, quietude and peace were brought to the 
hitherto badly governed and consequently turbulent colony. 

With a population consisting of so large and representative a pro- 
portion of this sect, one of whose fundamental doctrines is freedom in 
civil and religious affairs, it is not to be wondered that the Old North 
State has such an honorable history in her efforts for independent self- 
government. And with the well-known record of the Friends for zeal 
in promoting education, it would be a matter of surprise if their his- 
tory was not intimately connected with the educational advancement 
of the State. So it has been, but unfortunately no care was takeu to 
preserve the records of their early educational undertakings. The 
Friends here, as elsewhere, have it as a part of their discipline that 
no child shall grow up among them without the rudiments of a good 
education. They have ever maintained schools, when practicable, whose 
influence has been widely felt beyond the limits of the Society. Since 
1750 the Friends have constituted but a small proportion of the popu- 
lation of the State, the Society at this time numbering less than seven 
thousand members, yet they have been a potential factor in providing 
for the educational upbuilding of the people, especially since the late 
Civil War. 

The oldest Friends' schools in North Carolina still in operation were 
established in 1833, and their history will next be considered. 

FRIENDS' BOARDING school. 

This institution is located at New Garden, six miles west of Greens- 
borough, in Guilford County. 

New Garden was settled • by Friends early in the eighteenth century 
and soon became the center of a large community of that sect. For a 
number of years the Yearly Meeting, the highest authority in discipline 
and other matters relating to the Society of Friends in the State, was 
held there, but since 1881 High Point, a neighboring town, owing to 
better railroad facilities has been the seat of that assembly. 

For detailed information concerning the school the writer is indebted 
to Prof. L. Lyndon Hobbs for the use of an address which he deliv- 



144 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

ered at a student's reunion at New Garden on August 23, 1883. This 
address was prepared with great care, and it is so admirably adapted 
to the purposes of this sketch that it is followed with closeness and free- 
dom. 

u This institution," says Professor Hobbs, " had its origin in a deep 
religious concern for the education of the members of the North Caro- 
lina Yearly Meeting and for the promotion of the Society of Friends. 
No less powerful motive than a religious one could have sustained the 
worthy men and women who, fifty years ago, struggled against poverty 
and indifference for the establishment of a school for their own children 
and for those of future generations." 

Steps preliminary to the establishment of the school were taken at 
the Yearly Meeting in 1830. Subordinate meetings were directed to re- 
port the following year upon the character of the schools attended by 
the children of Friends, and also to give the number of Friends 7 chil- 
dren of school age, and of these the number not in school. 

At the next session of the Yearly Meeting the subordinate meetings 
reported as directed. Their report is thus recorded: " There is not a 
school in the limits of the Yearly Meeting that is under the care of a 
committee either of monthly or preparative meeting. The teachers of 
Friends' children are mostly not members of our Society, and all the 
schools are in a mixed state; which brought the meeting under exercise 
for a better plan of education, and Dougan Clark, Jeremiah Hubbard, 
Nathan Mendenhall, Joshua Stanley, and David White were appointed 
to prepare an address to the subordinate meetings on the subject of 
schools." 

The following extract from the address, which was adopted, bears 
witness to the high estimate which the Friends place upon education : 
" We believe that the Christian and literary education of our children, 
consistent with the simplicity of our profession, is a subject of very deep 
interest, if not of paramount importance, in supporting the various tes- 
timonies that we profess to bear to the world, and even the very exist- 
ance and continuance of the Society." 

A committee was appointed to receive subscriptions of funds for the 
establishment of a boarding school. The amount secured that year 
amounted to $370.55. Another committee was appointed later to di- 
gest a plan relative to purchasing a suitable farm on which to locate 
the school and beginning work, and to report the same at the next an- 
nual meeting. In 1832 a plan was submitted and about $1,200 were 
subscribed for putting it in operation. 

This plan proposed the purchase of a small farm with buildings nec- 
essary to accommodate forty or fifty boarding pupils. It was provided 
that the institution should be located near a meeting-house, and not on 
a public road. The farm was to have a sufficient orchard of fruit 
trees to furnish fruit for the students and be suited to the pasturage of 
cattle for the benefit and convenience of the institution. Care was to 



EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS OF THE FRIENDS. 145 

be taken that this farm should be watered ' by a constantly miming 
stream, located in a healthful neighborhood, and a be somewhere 
within the limits of New Garden, Deep Biver, Western, or Southern 
Quarterly Meetings." 

The school was to be under the management of a committee appointed 
by tbe Yearly Meeting, consisting of two men and two women from 
each of the above-mentioned Quarterly Meetings. This committee was 
empowered to decide upon location and to appoint the superintendent 
and teachers. So far as the writer can learn this is the first time it was 
ever seriously proposed to appoint women for such duties in North 
Carolina. 

All the students were to be boarders 5 not even those from the imme- 
diate neighborhood were to be received as day scholars. No girls under 
ten or boys under twelve years of age were to be admitted. It was ex- 
pressly stated that "none but members of the Society of Friends and 
the children of members should be admitted, and none for a shorter 
time than three months." This provision, however, was soon done away 
with, and the only requirement for admission was evidence of good char- 
acter. 

The instructors were to teach studies approved by the committee, be 
present with the pupils at their meals, and lodge in their bed chambers 
with them. 

In addition to regulations regarding the observance of the Sabbath, 
the following are some of the general rules to be observed by the chil- 
dren: "Upon awaking in the morning you should endeavor to torn 
your minds inward and wait upon your great Creator, the author of all 
your blessings, and think of his great loving-kindness to the children 
of men in sending his beloved Son into the world that whosoever shall 
believe shall have everlasting life. 

"During the hours of recreation you should observe moderation and 
decency in all your conduct, carefully guarding against everything that 
would vex or provoke each other to wrath, and avoid throwing sticks, 
stones, etc., calling nick-names, or mocking one another or the aged or 
the deformed. » ■* • The boys are not to indulge themselves in 
the dangerous practice of climbing trees. 

"You are neither to borrow, lend, buy, nor exchange without leave. 
When strangers speak to you, give modest, suitable answers, with your 
faces turned towards them. 

" In the evening after supper you are again to collect together, and 
after the calling of your names retire to your bed-chambers in as much 
stillness as possible, avoiding conversation, folding up your clothes 
neatly and putting them in their proper places. And you are tenderly 
and affectionately advised to conduct and close the day with remember- 
ing your gracious Creator, that being the best preparation for quiet 
repose." 

17037-No. 2 10 



146 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

Each monthly meeting within the limits of the Yearly Meeting- was 
to select one man or woman who would be willing, when sufficiently 
educated, to teach in primary or monthly meeting schools, to be edu- 
cated at the boarding school at the expense of the monthly meeting or 
from the general fund of the Yearly Meeting, if the parent or guardian 
should not be able to pay the board and tuition fee. 

In 1833 the school was located on the site it still occupies, and through 
the influence of George 0. Mendenhall, a prominent Friend and a mem- 
ber of the State Seuate, the General Assembly of that year granted 
an act of incorporation. 

The Friends, while neither strong in numbers nor wealth, made sub- 
stantial progress towards placing the institution, which for several 
years had been an object of solicitous care, on a firm basis. They ad- 
mi tt-ed and deplored the fact that their u members are generally very 
deficient in literary knowledge," but now they rejoiced in the dawn of 
a brighter day. 

In accordance with the original plan, the trustees purchased a small 
ftirm, and in 1834 Elihu Coffin, a descendant of Admiral Coffin of 
Revolutionary lame, donated a tract of land containing seventy acres, 
adjacent to that first purchased, to be used for the benefit of the school. 
Mr. Coffin was one of the original trustees, and his gift was one of the 
first and largest that came to the institution. 

Interest in the struggling school was not confined to the limits of a 
single commonwealth, for the Yearly Meetings of several States not 
only gave words of encouragement but also liberal contributions for con- 
structing and furnishing the necessary buildings. The Friends in Eng- 
land have also manifested a lively interest in the institution since its in- 
eipiency. The following contributions are worthy of special note. As 
early as 1834 English Friends had contributed $2,000 for the erection 
of buildings. In 1837 Joseph John Gurney, of England, gave $500, one- 
half of which was to be applied as the trustees saw fit and the balance 
to be used in aiding the children of Friends who were not able to meet 
the expenses of their education. This was the beginning of the fund to 
aid students. Through the donations of English Friends "early pro- 
vision was made to defray the expenses, wholly or in part, of ten chil- 
dren at the school. This assistance was given for several years at a 
period in the school's history when, but for this aid, the attendance 
would have been discouragingly small." George Rowland, of the New 
England Yearly Meeting, contributed $1,000 in 1839, and subsequently 
gave another thousand. Of the early friends and benefactors, Roland 
Green, of Rhode Island, was one of the most ardent. Liberal contribu- 
tions have been received from members of the New York, Philadelphia, 
and Baltimore Yearly Meetings; Francis T. King, a noble philanthropist 
of Baltimore, alone contributing about $10,000. 

Professor Hobbs says that, " Of the members of the North Carolina 
Yearly Meeting no one, perhaps, exerted a greater influence for the 
school &t home and abroad thnv Nathan Bunt- An eminent minister 



EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS OF THE FRIENDS. 147 

of the Gospel, ardently interested in the education of the young people 
of our State, he used his extraordinary eloquence to aid the effort which 
was beiug made for the establishment of a higher institution of learning. 
Through his influence many large donations were made." 

The necessary buildings having been completed, the school was opened 
August 1, 1837. Fifty students were in attendance the first day— 
twenty-five boys and twenty-five girls. This equal representation of 
the sexes fitly symbolizes the equal advantages which they have en- 
joyed here throughout the entire history of the institution, notwith- 
standing the opposition shown in the State to the co-education of the 
sexes. 

The first superintendents were Dougan and Asenath Clark, two well- 
known and accomplished Friends. The contract under which they were 
employed, a most formal instrument, begins thus: "This indenture, 
made on the 18th day of the 2nd month, in the year of our Lord one 
thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven, between Dougan Clark and 
Asenath Clark, his wife, on the first part, and Nixon Henly and others, 
trustees of New Garden Boarding School, in the county of Guilford and 
State of North Carolina, on the other part, witnesseth: That said 
Dougan and Asenath Clark, his wife, for and in consideration of the 
interest they feel in the promotion of the objects of the said boarding 
school, together with the further consideration of the covenants here 
contained, have undertaken, promised, and agreed, and by these pres- 
ents do undertake, promise, and agree, etc." 

The first teachers were Jonathan L. Slocum, of Providence, E. I., prin- 
cipal of the boys' school ; Catharine Cornell, principal of the girls' school ; 
Harriet Peck and Nathan B. Hill. All of the instructors but the last- 
named were from New England. Mr. and Mrs. Clark served the insti- 
tution for nearly six years. 

During the first term the average attendance was sixty-eight. The 
Yearly Meeting fixed the charge for board and tuition at $65 per year. 

Among the early rules adopted by the trustees were the following, 
which at this time will cause a smile, though at that time they were 
enforced with all seriousness : u It is the united judgment of the com- 
mittee that the boys should have their hair cut smooth and decent." 
" No more frock coats to be admitted into the school." 

For a decade preceding the Civil War the institution was much em- 
barrassed financially, and in 1860 the sale of the property was pro- 
posed; but Friends, North and South, rallied to its support and it was 
decided that the school should be maintained. During that period 
many of the North Carolina Friends were emigrating to free soil; and 
in this time of political commotion New Garden suffered. The school 
was continued without interruption throughout the War on a gold basis. 

In 1867, the trustees, encouraged by the Baltimore Friends, decided 
to make the school more efficient. The buildings were refurnished, the 
corps of teachers was increased, and a permanent endowment fund, 



148 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

now amounting to $23,700 in invested securities, was inaugurated. 
During the present year an effort is being made to increase the endow- 
ment to $50,000. Several handsome subscriptions to that end have al- 
ready been made and it is more than probable that the hoped-for 
amount will be obtained. 

The institution has now three large and well-ordered brick buildings 
for class-room and dormitory purposes, — Founder's Hall, 126 by 40 
feet, three stories ; King Hall, 100 by 60 feet, with a front projection 
16 by 40 feet, three stories ;, and Archdale Hall, 90 \ by 42 feet, two 
stories. 

The school is provided with a good library, and connected with it are 
two well-conducted literary societies. 

Two courses of study, the u literary and scientific" and the "classi- 
cal," each extending over four years, are provided. Special normal in- 
struction is given. Diplomas of graduation, but not degrees, are con- 
ferred on those completing a course. The academic staff now numbers 
seven. The charges per academic year for board, tuition, and washing 
are $150. 

Since its establishment more than 3,000 boys and girls have studied 
at ISTew Garden. Their influence has been widely felt in North Caro- 
lina and in several States of the West, many of them having become 
teachers and preachers. 

Eeferring to the influence of the institution, Professor Hobbs says, 
" Its effects have not been confined to the limits of the State. Many of 
her children have found homes in the West, where they have won dis- 
tinction as teachers in high schools and colleges, as ministers of the 
Gospel, and as substantial conscientious farmers. 

" When Kansas Yearly Meeting was organized, an aged and esteemed 
Friend, John Clark, of Indiana, was asked why it was that in all the 
Western Meetings, with rare exceptions, they chose for clerks either 
Carolinians or their immediate descendants. After a moment's reflec- 
tion he replied, < It is because they can do no better, for they would if 
they could.' " 

The address above quoted closes as follows : " Inestimable as are the 
benefits which the founders and supporters of the boarding-school have 
conferred upon their fellow-men through an unbroken period of forty- 
six years, iu view of the thorough improvements for the accommoda- 
tion of pupils and the additions to our facilities for instruction, what 
has been accomplished may be regarded as the infancy and youth of 
an institution which is now entering upon its manhood ; and this day 
may be a happy fulfilment of the prophecy of Jacob Green, a well- 
known Friend from Ireland, who, at a meeting of the trustees in 1839, 
uttered these words: ' This institution will do good to your children's 
children. It is the Lord's work aud will prosper in your hands.' " 

This prediction of Jacob Green is now on the point of being realized 
in a fuller sense than was anticipated at the time of its utterance. At 



•EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS OF THE FRIENDS. 149 

the students' reunion in 1883, Francis T. King said that he was encour- 
aged to believe that in the near future, instead of New Garden Boarding 
School, the institution would bear the more imposing title of "Guilford 
College of North Carolina." The writer is informed that at a recent 
meeting of the trustees it was decided to change the name to Guilford 
College, and that the next General Assembly of the State will be asked 
to amend its charter and confer upon it all the privileges usual to col- 
leges. It was proposed tha't the institution be christened King College, 
but through the preference of Mr. King it received the historic name, 
Guilford. 

Steps are now being taken to secure an endowment sufficient to equip 
and maintain this school for a high grade of collegiate work. The 
institution has strong and influential friends, not only in North Caro- 
lina but in other States, and it bids fair to become one of the first col- 
leges in the State. 

BELYIDERE ACADEMY. 

This school is situated at Belvidere, Perquimans County, near the 
seat of the first settlement made in the State. The following sketch of 
this well-known Quaker institution was prepared for this work by Josiah 
Nicholson, a prominent Friend and citizen of eastern Carolina : 

u The Society of Friends, at their Quarterly Meeting held at Little 
Eiver, 8th month 31,1833, entertained a proposition to establish a school 
(at that time there were no organized schools in the Albemarle district 
of the State), and a committee was appointed to take the subject into 
consideration, select a place, erect the buildings, employ a teacher, and 
put the school in operation. 

" The committee purchased a lot at Belvidere and proceeded to erect 
a two-story building thereon, in which, on the 30th of 11th month, 1835, 
school was opened under the instruction of Edward S. Gifford, of Massa- 
chusetts. 

"This school, though at first intended only for Friends' children, 
was in the second year opened for others besides Friends, by their con- 
forming to the rules of the school. 

"It has continued uninterruptedly from its organization, fifty years 
ago, up to the present time, and to-day enjoys a fair patronage. 7 ' 

There was a semi-centennial celebration of this school on December 
24, 1885, and the following is an extract from the speech of Hon. Jona- 
than W. Albertson, made on the occasion: 

u I have feebly pointed to some of the influences which have been fer- 
menting within the last fifty years. For all that time, with trifling in- 
termissions, this school has been open, its light shining, and it has con- 
tributed no trifling share to the thought of the age. All honor to 
these old walls! and all honor to that band of enlightened men who 
foresaw the needs of the young and prepared an alma mater to bring 
lip children furnished forth for the battles of the century 1 



150 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

"For fifty years a stream of young men and women has left these 
doors and gone into the world, bearing with them the lessons taught 
them here, and here they were always taught what was right. Like a 
stone dropped into the water, the circling influence is felt to the ex- 
tremity of the earth, and I have traced the pupils of Belvidere, some to 
where the surf beats upon the far Pacific shore, some to the land of the 
Montezurnas, and some linger amidst the, orange groves of Florida. 
The cities of the Atlantic sea-board claim some, some dwell in the 
mighty valley of the Mississippi, and some have not wandered far from 
the l old school house.' Many of them, I know, are abreast of the age, 
and all are, consciously or unconsciously, imbued with its spirit. 

" I was here when these doors were first opened, and at the length 
of fifty years I return to greet my alma mater. 

"Many who were with me here when these doors first opened have 
passed beyond the river. I remember many of the lost ones. Of those 
who remain, I ask that we give a kind thought to the absent, living 
and dead ; and now clasping your hands across the chasm of fifty years, 
I bid you all hail and God speed." 

BALTIMORE FRIENDS. 

North Carolina has reason to be grateful to the " Baltimore Associa- 
tion of Friends to advise and assist Friends of the Southern States " for 
its noble and successful efforts for the material and intellectual upbuild- 
ing of the State during the dark period succeeding the Civil War. At 
first the work of the association was confined to Friends occupying that 
section of the State devastated by Sherman in his march to the sea, 
but soon the limits of the charity were broadened until they embraced 
a large part of the State's territory and population without regard to 
differences in religious belief. 

Then, too, unlike other aid associations then operating within the 
State, only help was given to the white race, and it was given in such 
a way as to elevate and not pauperise. The leaders in the movement 
believed that the best way to help the people was to put them in a con- 
dition to help themselves, and with this as a working principle their 
efforts rnefc with success. 

It is interesting to note the origin of this association. Soon after the 
outbreak of the War between the States, Friends from North Carolina 
occasionally passed through Baltimore on their way to the West to seek 
homes on free soil, where they would not be constantly menaced by the 
horrors of war. Many of these received assistance from individual 
Friends in Baltimore, but towards the close of the War the demands 
were so frequent and the exigencies so pressing that the Baltimore 
Friends decided to co-operate in giving aid, and this led to the formation 
of the association. The immediate cause leading to its organization is 
thus stated by Mr. Francis T. King: "One Sunday morning towards 
the close of the War, two men appeared in front of the Friends' meeting- 
house on Courtland Street, and quietly waited on the pavement till serv* 



EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS OF THE FRIENDS. 151 

ices were over. As the members were coming out of the building', the 
two strangers informed several of the congregation that there were some 
North Carolina Friends at one of the city wharves in destitute circum- 
stances. A committee at once repaired to the locality, and found there 
fifty persons of all ages and conditions whose homes had been ruined by 
the passage of Sherman's army through the section in which they lived. 
They had obtained permission to go to their friends in the North-west. 
Their sufferings excited the warmest sympathy of the Friends, and steps 
were at once taken for their comfort. But the charity did not stop 
there. Permission was obtained from President Lincoln to send a ves- 
sel load of provisions and agricultural implements to the Friends in 
North Carolina. Several hundred more Friends soon after this passed 
through Baltimore on their way West, and they, too, received assistance. 
The temporary aid thus extended became an established permanency, 
and the " Baltimore Association to aid Friends in the South" was 
formed in 1865. Since the War this association has expended about 
$150,000 in North Carolina in educational and agricultural work." 

The association discouraged emigration from the State, and returned 
to their former homes some of the families that had gone West. 

The following extract is taken from the first annual report of the as- 
sociation, made October 23, 1866: 

" Whilst thus engaged in aiding our brethren and endeavoring to 
relieve their physical wants, we soon discovered that there were even 
stronger claims upon us to educate their children, many of whom, from 
the need of their labor at home, the scarcity of books, and the conscrip- 
tion of teachers, had lost four years of instruction, the period of a coun- 
try child's school life. 

" One of our number (Francis T. King) again visited North Carolina 
at the time of the Yearly Meeting in the eleventh month, 1865, and 
there met in consultation our friends Joseph Crosfield, of England, Sam- 
uel Boyce, of New England, and Marmaduke C. Cope, of Philadelphia, 
and conferred with the education committee of North Carolina Yearly 
Meeting. After carefully considering the whole subject, the associa- 
tion concluded to appropriate $5,000 to the boarding school (New Gar- 
den), $2,500 to be expended in repairing the school buildings and in 
refitting the furniture and school apparatus, and $2,500 to pay the board 
and tuition at the school of the children of Friends, who had suffered 
most by the War, which has since been done. Secondly, to establish 
primary schools in every Friends' neighborhood, under the direction 
of our association, and to appoint a competent superintendent to devote 
his whole time to their supervision. * * * 

"We are satisfied that the most useful pecuniary aid to families that 
we can now render, and one that will be most general in its application 
and permanent in its results, is to assume the expense and oversight of 
the schools (except the boarding school)} until our Friends recover from 
the effects of the Wat ItM we succeed in establishing a system which will 
8Ust?,H» itself* * * * 



152 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

" The subject of improved agriculture has claimed the attention of our 
hoard, aud our president, Francis T. King, has been directed to confer 
with North Carolina Friends at the time of their Yearly Meeting, next 
mouth, and submit to us a plan for accomplishing this very important 
object; without it, it will be impossible to prevent the emigration of 
many young people whose energy and ambition have been stimulated." 

The educational work of the association was commenced about the 
close of 1865 by assuming charge of twelve schools, numbering about 
six hundred students. In 1867 the number of schools had increased to 
thirty-eight, with two thousand one hundred and forty-three pupils. A 
graded course of instruction covering a period of four years was intro- 
duced and the necessary text-books were furnished the schools. The 
North Carolina Friends furnished the school-houses, boarded the teach- 
ers, and provided fuel, in return for which their children received free 
tuition. The children of those who did not belong to the Society of 
Friends were received at the rate of $1 per month. 

In the summer of 1866 the association established a normal school 
to prepare teachers for the primary schools, which was continued from 
summer to summer, during the vacation of the other schools, until the 
State Normal was established. Capable instructors were secured from 
the North to direct the Normal. Tuition was free, and teachers of all 
denominations from various sections of the State attended. The aim 
of the Baltimore association was to prepare North Carolina teachers 
to teach in North Carolina schools, and in that way to secure the sym- 
pathy and co-operation of the people of the State. This it succeeded 
in doing. 

At one time the association had under its management fifty-six 
schools, numbering about thirty-two hundred pupils, of whom only 
thirteen hundred were the children of Friends. 

The following table, prepared by Mr. John C. Thomas, the secretary 
.of the association, shows the amount spent for educational purposes, 
not including the sums appropriated to the model farm and subscrip- 
tions of members of the association to the boarding school : 

Baltimore Association of Friends to aid Friends in the South. 

AID TO EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

1866. For New Garden school, in repairs, apparatus, and tuition of 36 schol- 
ars - $4,817.50 

1866. For 30 primary schools and 1 normal School, and aid to new school- 

houses c 4, 710. 36 

1867. For New Garden School .. " 1,332.73 

1867. For 38 primary schools aud 1 normal school 11,3-27.12 

1868. For 40 primary schools and 1 normal school (about) 13, 000. 00 

1868. For New Garden School (about) 1,000.00 

1869. For New Garden School (about) 500.00 

I860. For primary schools and 1 normal school (about) 10, 000. 00 

1870. For primary schools and 1 normal school (nbout) 4, 500. 00 

1870. For New Garden School (about) 300. 00 

1871. For primary schools and 1 normal school -.= .***<« .***.* ***•«• .**.** 3,150,00 



EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS OF THE FRIENDS. 153 

1872. For primary schools and 1 normal school $2, 575. 00 

1873. For superintendent's services , 825. 00 

1874. For superintendent's services 500. 00 

1875. For superintendent's services 400. 00 

1876. For superintendent's services 1,200. 00 

1877. For superintendent's services 800. 00 

1878. For 36 primary schools and superintendent's services 1,953. 09 

1878. For New Garden scholars 232. 00 

1879. For primary schools and superintendent's services 1, 254. 17 

1880. For primary schools and superintendent's services 1, 023. 90 

1881. For primary schools and superintendent's services 544. 00 

$65, 944. 87 
THE MODEL FARM. 

The model farm, established in 1867 near High Point, in Eandolph 
County, was one of the greatest educational factors introduced into the 
State by the association. 

The president of the association in his annual report for 1867, after 
referring to the low and unremunerative state of agriculture in North 
Carolina and the fact that many of her citizens were emigrating, says: 
"To educate and enlighten her people without at the same time demon- 
strating the possibility of greater returns to labor, would still further 
tend to depopulation. Our work, so general in its character, could not 
fail to stimulate Friends to desire improved agriculture. There has 
been a continual pressure upon us to establish a model farm and to place 
among them a practical farmer, who with improved farming implements, 
artificial manures, the introduction of grasses, selected seed and stock, 
could demonstrate to their eyes the great neglected wealth of the soil, 
awaiting only the call of improved cultivation ; and who, by the estab- 
lishment of agricultural clubs within the limits of each quarterly meet- 
ing, should stimulate a spirit of inquiry and enterprise which would be 
rewarded by the best practical results. We have accordingly purchased 
the farm of that honored and devoted servant of Christ, the late Nathan. 
Hunt, at Springfield, on the dividing line of Guilford and Eandolph 
Counties." 

The farm contained 200 acres and cost $4,400. An experienced farmer 
was secured and the farm was supplied with the most improved farming 
implements and stocked with the best cattle. The farm proved a great 
success. A wide-spread interest in agriculture was awakened, leading 
to the formation of many farmers' clubs. W. A. Sampson, who had 
charge of the farm, gave occasional lectures before these clubs on ag- 
ricultural topics. The farm soon became recognized as a practical agri- 
cultural school, and was visited frequently by farmers from distant parts 
of the State. 

A department was established for the sale and distribution of im- 
proved stock, agricultural implements, and seeds. In a few months 
after the farm was established two tons of clover-seed were distributed 
at cost. To this and the farm together the association appropriated 
about $24,000. The farm, however, soon became self-sustaining. 



154 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

The emigration of Friends was stopped, their numbers began to in- 
crease, and they are now numbered among the most cultured, prosper- 
ous, and enterprising citizens in the State. 

PHILADELPHIA FRIENDS. 

The Philadelphia Friends have been doing much to elevate and ad- 
vance the moral and educational interest of the colored people in North 
Carolina since the War. 

The following statement in regard to the work of "The Friends' As- 
sociation of Philadelphia and its vicinity for the relief of colored freed- 
nien," was prepared for this chapter by the treasurer of the association, 
Mr. Richard Oadbury : 

The Friends' Association of Philadelphia and its vicinity for the re- 
lief of colored freedmen was founded in the eleventh month, 1863. Its 
purpose, as tersely stated in the preamble to its constitution, " shall be 
to use every means in its power to further the object indicated in the 
title and preamble." 

The work then begun extended over a wide area and embraced a 
great variety of objects, and any statement, therefore, of what was done 
in one branch and in one State must necessarily be imperfect, as the 
details would have to be almost entirely estimates. 

The first school founded by this association in North Carolina was at 
Greensborough, Guilford Couuty, in the eleventh month, 1865. 

At the meeting of the executive' board held in the sixth month of that 
year, the instruction committee reported that they {i are desirous of pro- 
curing the services of an interested friend to locate and superintend 
schools in North Carolina and Western Virginia." Yardley Warner 
was soon after appointed to visit North Carolina to prepare the way for 
establishing schools, and in the ninth month report was made that 
"Nereus Mendenhali has been appointed superintendent of schools in 
•North Carolina, and nine teachers selected to act under his care." In 
the twelfth month report was made that the following schools were in 
operation : Greensborough, 7 teachers ; Salisbury, 4 teachers ; Deep 
Eiver, 1 teacher; Goldsborough, 3 teachers. 

In the second month, 1866, report was made that over 3,000 children 
were being educated in the North Carolina schools. In the fourth 
month, 1866, the following schools were in operation: Goldsborough, 5 
teachers; Hillsborough, 2 teachers; Durham, 1 teacher; Mebanesville, 
1 teacher; Centre, 3 teachers ; New Garden, 1 teacher ; Greensborough, 
3 teachers; Jamestown, 1 teacher; Deep River, 2 teachers; Sandy Ridge, 
1 teacher; Oak Ridge, 1 teacher; Bruce's Cross Road, 1 teacher; More- 
head's Mill, 1 teacher; Thomasville, 1 teacher; Charlotte, 3 teachers; 
Salisbury, 3 teachers; Lincoluton, 1 teacher; Mud Lick, 1 teacher; Madi- 
son, 1 teacher; Walnut Cove, I teacher* 

During the year 1869, 29 schools were maintained in North Carolina 
with about 40 teachers. In addition to those in the above list (sonte of 
which bad been discontinued) there were eehools at Hopewell, Lesing' 



EDUCATIONAL EFFOETS OF THE FRIENDS. 



155 



ton, Salein, Mount Yernon, Cedar Grove, Company Shops, Warrenton, 
Boone Hill, and 10 small schools in Rowan, Iredell, and Davies Coun- 
ties, under the care of a special superintendent. 

This is probably the highest point reached, both in the number of 
schools and scholars. A reasonable estimate would place the average 
enrolment of these schools for a number of years at 2,000. 

In 1871 there were 16 schools, 26 teachers ; in 1878, 13 schools, 21 
teachers ; 1881, 4 schools, 11 teachers. 

At the present time 2 schools are maintained by the association, — 
Goldsborough, 6 teachers; Salem, 2 teachers; besides some assistance 
given to the schools at Greensborough and Rutherfordton. 

It is proper to state that in very few instances, even from the begin- 
ning, has the entire expense of supporting any school been borne by 
the association. The Freedmen's Bureau, the Peabody Fund, local 
taxation, the colored people themselves, and many of the white people, 
have all aided in the work. 

It is difficult to estimate the amount of money expended in North 
Carolina for education. In 1869, probably $10,000 is within the mark; 
in the last fiscal year $750. Including, under educational purposes, 
bibles, tracts, etc., I think $60,000 within the mark, as the money 
expended by the association from its own contributions since 1865. 

NEW YORK PKIEN.DS. 

The Bible School and Missionary Board of New York Yearly Meeting 
of Friends has been doing important educational work in North Caro- 
lina among colored people since 1874, and among white people since 
1878. The chairman of the board, Mr. Robert M. Ferris, has kindly 
furnished the following statement in regard to their educational under- 
takings in this State : 

Schools for colored people. 



Tears— winter. 


Number 
of schools. 


Number 
of pupils. 


Amount 
expended. 


1874 75 - - » 


1 

5 

11 

16 
10 
16 
15 

15 
16 

17 
19 
15 

8 


45 
170 
435 
695 
401 
* 755 
546 
615 
689 
764 
788 
552 
348 


$100. 00 


1875 76 


243. 00 


1876 77 


635. 00 


1877 78 


1, 246. 00 


1878 79 


1, 016. 59 


1879 80 - - 


1,613.60 


1880 81 


1, 502. 64 


1881-82 


1, 2'?5. 95 




1, 362. 82 


1883 84 


1,5 2.1V 


1884 85 - - 


1, 969. 00 


1885 86 - 


1, 492. 00 


1886 87 • 


1, 786. 79 






- 






$15, 785. 54 



156 



HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 



Xearly all these schools are in Randolph and Guilford Counties. In 
connection with the above schools, Sabbath schools are generally held- 
girls' sewing schools in connection with some, temperance organizations 
with many, and mothers' meetings for general instruction in family 
duties in connection with a few. With very few exceptions the teachers 
are professing Christians, and in most cases active workers. A super- 
intendent, paid by the board, visits the schools from time to time* 
These schools draw a certain amount of public money, which is suf- 
ficient to maintain them for two to three months. The money from 
the Friends extends the time upon an average about five months, and 
makes it possible to secure a much better grade of teachers. The 
teachers are always selected and engaged as approved by the Board's 
superintendent, and the schools send reports to New York every month. 
Appropriations for physical relief, clothing, etc., are not included in 
the above report. 

Schools for white people. 



Tears — winter. 


dumber 
of schools. 


Number 
of pupils. 


Amount 
of money. 


1878 79 


5 
12 

9 
11 
11 
15 
11 
11 


175 

485 
343 
513 
278 
625 
484 
495 


$100. 00 


1879-80 


320. 00 


188 81 


294. 00 


1881 82 


200. 00 


1882 83 * 


260. 00 


1 883 84 


257. 15 


i884 85 


275. 00 


1885 8G 


125. 00 










$1, 831. 15 



The above schools were among Friends mostly in Eandolph and Guil- 
ford Counties. 

The Friends have several excellent self-supporting schools in the 
State, and they were never more zealous than now in promoting 
education. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

HISTORY AND STATUS OF EDUCATION AMONG THE COL- 
ORED PEOPLE. 1 

From what can be gathered from tradition and observation, it does 
seem that the colored people of North Carolina have, during the last 
hundred years, partaken of that hearty and independent spirit which 
has characterized their white masters and fellow-citizens of the same 
soil. 

And while the above remark would not necessarily suggest educa- 
tional progress, it is a fact that education has its most ready growth 
and development, with its attendant fruits, in an atmosphere pregnant 
with the spirit of thrift and independence. Hence the colored people 
of North Carolina for a long time have been the most noted of the race 
in the South for their ardent desire for education and for their zealous 
perseverance in trying to secure the same. This is confirmed in that 
so many, before the War, betook themselves to the States in the Union 
which would allow them an education. Hence,- further, the fact that 
the emancipation found the North Carolina colored people so well pre- 
pared to receive its concomitant blessings, especially those of educa- 
tion. This will be confirmed by the following notes on the educational 
institutions of which North Carolina negroes can boast : 

I. The oldest,, and one of the most representative, of the colored 
schools in the State is the Shaw University, for both sexes, at Raleigh. 

This school had its origin in the formation of a theological class of 
freedmen in Raleigh, December 1, 1865, taught by Rev. H. M. Tupper, 
of Massachusetts, who, with his wife, had arrived in Raleigh the 10th of 
the preceding October. The work was commenced under the auspices of 
the "American Baptist Home Mission Society." The school has devel- 
oped with great rapidity, being commenced as the " Raleigh Institute," 
and successively changing its name, until now as the Shaw University it 
occupies several acres of land situated in one of the most desirable parts 
of the city, upon which have been erected five large handsome brick 
buildings. I suppose its property may not truly be estimated at less 

ir rhis interesting and valuable chapter was prepared for this monograph by Prof. 
S. G. Atkins, of Livingstone College, one of the foremost institutions in the State for 
the education of the colored people. The writer is thoroughly conversant with the 
status of his race, and what he says is worthy of careful attention. 

157 



158 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

than $200,000. It has six different departments — viz, college, scientific, 
normal, theological, medical, and industrial — in successful operation. 
A reference to the course of study shows that the amount of work 
done at Shaw is adequate to efficiency on the lines indicated by the 
courses. Special mention might be made of the medical department, 
whose Faculty includes some of the most eminent members of the med- 
ical profession in our State. The indications are that its appliances 
will soon be all that is necessary for thoroughly preparing the stu- 
dent for his special work. Further points will be noted in the tabular 
chart. 

II. The second institution, in order of date, for the colored people in 
North Carolina is the Biddle University, at Charlotte, for young men. 
This institution was organized in 1867, under the auspices of the Pres- 
byterian Board of Missions for Freedmen. Its advancement has been 
steady, until its property is valued at $70,000, and its scope of work 
covers three departments of instruction, viz, theological, college, and 
preparatory. In the college and preparatory departments, either one 
or both of two courses are pursued, a classical course and a scientific 
course. The preparatory is antecedent to the college. 

The courses in the college department lead to the degrees of A. B. and 
B. S.; and it might be added that the character of work done at Biddle 
is no whit behind, if not superior to, that of any college for the race in 
the State. (See tabular chart.) 

III. The third institution of learning, in order of date, founded in 
North Carolina for the education of the colored people is the St. Au- 
gustine Normal School and Collegiate Institute, for both sexes, at 
Kaleigh, founded by the Rev. J. Britten Smith, D. D., and under the 
auspices of the Protestant Episcopal Church. St. Augustine Normal 
School and Collegiate Institute was incorporated July, lb67, and opened 
January, 1868. Its threefold object is to afford young men and women 
superior advantages for obtaining a thorough academic education, 
to train and equip teachers for efficient service, and to prepare young 
men for the holy ministry. The scope of its work embraces four 
departments, viz, theological, collegiate, normal, and preparatory. 
The course in the theological department includes instruction in the 
prayer-book and Bible, Christian evidences, systematic divinity, eccle- 
siastical history, and homiletics. The course in the collegiate depart- 
ment embraces history, ancient and modern j mathematics to trigonom- 
etry; and so much of the sciences and classics as is necessary to make 
the student master of the more important facts and theories of science, 
and to lay the basis of a thorough scholarship in the Greek and Latin 
languages. In the normal department the course is arranged with 
special reference to the wants of teachers in the public schools. Those 
desiring to enter the institute, who are not prepared to pass examina- 
tions for admission to the academic or the normal department, are 




IPlIil 



: W Hfiift S ;:::f:L|llIftlI ilfllllli 









2T \v 




EDUCATION AMONG THE COLORED PEOPLE. 159 

admitted to classes in the preparatory department. (See tabular 
chart.) 

IV. The fourth institution, in order of date, founded in North Car- 
olina for the colored people is the Scotia Seminary, for young ladies, 
at Concord. Scotia Seminary was chartered in 1870. It was founded 
by Rev. Luke Dorland, D. D., and is under the auspices of the Presby- 
terian Board of Missions for Freedmen. Its scope of work embraces 
three departments, viz, industrial, preparatory, and seminary. The 
seminary department embraces two courses of study, viz, a normal 
and scientific. The object of the normal course is to give a thorough 
preparation for teaching. The scientific course is intended to give some 
advantages not afforded by the normal course, and to bring the stand- 
ard of Scotia up to that of similar institutions elsewhere. This course 
includes the sciences, ancient and modern literature, and mathematics 
to geometry. (See tabular chart.) 

V. The fifth institution of learning, in order of date, founded in North 
Carolina for the education of the colored people is the Bennett Seminary, 
for both sexes, at Greensborough. It was opened in 1873. Its estab- 
lishment was largely due to the praj^ers and labors of the Rev. Matthew 
Alston (colored), at whose earnest representations the Freed men's Aid 
Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church founded the institution. 
The Bennett Seminary embraces five courses of study, viz, a college 
course, a normal course, an English course, a theological course, and 
an instrumental music course. The college course has not, 1 think, as 
yet been put into operation, but the other courses are similar, in char- 
acter of work done, to similar courses of the institution previously noted. 
(See tabular chart.) 

YI. The sixth institution, in order of date, established in North Caro- 
lina for the training of colored youth is the first high school founded 
by the State for the education of its colored citizens. It is known as 
the State Colored Normal School at Fayetteville. It was established 
by the State board of education, under an act of the General Assembly 
of 1876-77, for the training of teachers for the colored schools of the 
State, It receives an annual appropriation of $2,000 from the State. 
It might be remarked that the colored people of Fayetteville gave the 
land upon which the building in which the normal school is conducted 
was erected. The building was erected by the Freedmen's Bureau. 

The State has since established four similar schools,, at Salisbury, 
Goldsborough,Franklinton, and Plymouth. The design of these schools 
is: 

1. Thorough instruction in all the branches required to be taught in 
the public schools of the State. 

2. To present the best methods of teaching these branches and gov- 
erning the schools. 

The courses of study are adapted to these ends. (See tabular chart.) 
VII. Among the youngest of North Carolina negro colleges is the 



160 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IK NORTH CAROLINA. 

Livingstone College, for both sexes, at Salisbury, incorporated in 1879, 
opened in 1880, and under the auspices of the A. M. B. Zion Church. 

This institution was incorporated in 1879 as u Zion Wesley Institute," 
chartered in 1884 as " Zion Wesley College," and name changed in 1887 
to " Livingstone College." Its progress has been marked. It is now 
only in its eighth year, and has property valued at $75,000. Its Faculty 
numbers fourteen instructors. Its scope of work includes five depart- 
ments, viz, preparatory, normal, collegiate, theological, and industrial 
departments. 

The work of the preparatory department is represented by a gram- 
mar school course of four years, which serves as preparatory to the nor- 
mal course. 

The normal course is designed to prepare efficient teachers. It is, 
probably, more purely normal than the course of any similar department 
in the State. The college department offers an academic course, which 
includes instruction in the sciences, mathematics, and belles-lettres. 
The theological department comprehends two courses, a classic-theo- 
logical and an English-theological. 

The industrial department offers instruction in needle-work, printing, 
carpentry, and cooking. 

This institution is unique in that it is directed, controlled, and offi- 
cered entirely by negroes. 

One of its most hopeful inspirations is the generous encouragement 
given by white friends, both at the North and in the South. (See tab- 
ular chart.) 

VIII. The last institution to be named under this head is the "Frank- 
linton Literary and Theological Christian Institute," for both sexes, at 
Franklinton. This school was founded in 1880 by the Christian Church 
at the North. It is now in its eighth session. Its curriculum embraces 
four departments, viz, a preparatory, an intermediate, a normal, and a 
theological. The scope of the courses of these departments is not so 
extensive as that of similar departments in the schools previously men- 
tioned ; but the Franklinton Literary and Theological Christian Insti- 
tute is doing an effective work for good among the colored people of 
the State. (See tabular charts 



EDUCATION AMONG THE COLORED PEOPLE. 



161 



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■11 



162 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

OBSERVATIONS. 

This sketch might include a number of private high schools and 
academies not referred to above, among which should be mentioned the 
Kittrell Normal and Industrial School at Kittrell, the Whitin Normal 
School at Lumberton, the Albion Academy at Franklinton, the Yadkin 
Academy at Mebaneville, the Winton Academy at Winton, the M. E. 
Academy at Asheville, and the Congregational High School at Wil- 
mington. These schools are doing an important work in the State in 
supplying the communities in which they are with a higher order of 
instruction than would ordinarily come to them. To the schools just 
mentioned might be added excellent graded schools in a number of 
towns in the State. ; These graded schools are subject to the same pro- 
visions as are the other graded schools referred to in the monograph. 

It might be remarked that the industrial departments of the colleges 
are doing an important work, and are proving themselves admirably 
adapted to the needs of the lately emancipated race. These depart- 
ments cover a wide field of operations, including carpentry, printing, 
cabinet-making, needle-work, sboemaking, tailoring, blacksmithing, and 
cooking. 

The Bennett Seminary has recently added to its departments the 
Kent Home, a model home, " put up and opened in order to teach girls 
and young ladies how to make a perfect Christian home." In it are 
taught sewing and mending, dress and garment making, housekeeping 
and cooking, nursing, and laundry work. Other seminaries in the State 
contemplate having, if they have not already begun, similar depart- 
ments. 

It is the opinion of those most interested in and nearly connected 
with the work of education among the colored people that there can be 
no permanent advancement of the race on aesthetic and literary lines 
without improving and perfecting the home life. It is my opinion that 
the mission of the schools among us can never be fully served apart 
from making the females in the race to be good housekeepers — makers of 
perfect Christian homes. The industrial departments of most of the col- 
leges above referred to are maintained by appropriations from the John 
F. Slater fund. 1 

The same remarks in general that would apply to the public schools 
of one race in North Carolina would apply to those of the other race. 
The North Carolina public schools are as yet inefficient, but have 
made and are making progress. True of one race, true, of both. The 
same hindrances impede in the case of both, with perhaps one excep- 
tion. To this one exception I wish to refer. It is the great want (not 
absolute) of qualified teachers among the colored people. To my mind 
it is just now the only practicable way of improving our public-school 

1 North Carolina has received from the Slater fund the following amounts for the 
years given: 1883, $2,000; 1884, $740; 1835, $4,400; 1886, $3,600 ; 1887, $4,200 ; appor- 
tioned for 1887-68, $5,300. 



EDUCATION AMONG THE COLORED PEOPLE. 163 

system. I mean the preparation of teachers through normal training 
schools. It can hardly be expected that the State will soon be able to 
materially lengthen the school terms (an average of 2J to 3 months), 
the shortness of which causes chiefly the inefficiency already referred to, 
but the State can arrange to have better teachers. 

There are just two ways — both of which should go together, one of 
which must obtain — to make the public schools passably efficient. They 
are school terms of full length, and teachers with full preparation. The 
one would afford the time ; the other would furnish the means. The 
former is almost indispensable, the latter is entirely so. And since the 
latter is more practicable, I would say that schools and departments for 
preparing teachers are the great needs of our public school system at 
present, especially among the colored people of the State. It is a pleas- 
ing circumstance to note that the State is striking out on this line, and 
we are led to hope that our schools will soon be furnished with such 
teachers as will make the schools all they should be. 

The last observation I wish to make appertains to the attendance in 
the colored schools of the State. In all the schools, high, intermediate, 
and primary, the attendance is increased this year by from 15 to 30 
per cent., in some cases it is nearly doubled. This is significant. This 
fact can not arise from any lax tendencies in the management of the 
schools, for the schools have rather raised their standards, broadened 
their scope of work, and made more circumspect their discipline. These 
observations taken all in all, it seems to me, teach that the North Caro- 
lina negro is making his way slowly, but truly to the position of a 
useful, intelligent, Christian factor in the body-politic of this progres- 
sive, intelligent, and Christian commonwealth. 

S. G. Atkins. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

ORIGIN OF THE SYSTEM. 

North Carolina was one of the first States to make constitutional pro- 
vision for both the common and the higher education of her citizens. 
The heroes of 1776 recognized that liberty and enlightenment were com- 
plements of each other, and that the surest safeguard to democratic 
government is education ; so in the initial Constitution of the State it 
was declared " That a school or schools shall be established by the Leg- 
islature for the convenient instruction of youth, with such salaries to 
the masters, paid by the public, as may enable them to instruct at low 
prices ; and all useful learning shall be duly encouraged in one or more 
universities." 

The above, then, is the foundation of the public-school system ; but 
such was the financial condition of the State in the early years of its 
history that a half century elapsed before the fair promise of the Con- 
stitution was realized, even in a measure, in so far as it related to com- 
mon schools. The University, which was chartered in 1789, and began 
the work of instruction in 1795, was doubtless instrumental in educat- 
ing public sentiment to the importance of a State system of schools. 

Not until 1816 did the public authorities take any action on this ques- 
tion. In that year Governor Miller, in his message to the General As- 
sembly, called attention to the need of public schools, and recommended 
that some action be taken looking to their establishment. The Legisla- 
ture appointed a committee, with the Hon. Archibald D. Murphey as 
chairman, to report upon the subject of " affording means of education 
to every one, however indigent." Judge Murphey has been called the 
father of our public-school system, and well does he deserve this title. 

On December 19, 1816, Judge Murphey, in behalf of the committee, 
submitted a report urging the establishment of " a judicious system of 
public education." This report, which he drafted, is worthy of close 
study. The first part is devoted to a learned dissertation upon the ben- 
efits of education and the needs of the State University. Following 
this are suggestions- for . a school system. "This general system," 
says the report, "inust include a gradation of schools regularly support- 
ing each other, from the one in which the first rudiments of education 
are taught to that in which the highest branches of the sciences are cul- 

164 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 165 

tivaled. It is to the first schools in this gradation that your committee 
beg leave to draw the attention of the Legislature at this time, because 
in them will be taught the learning indispensable to all — reading, writ- 
ing, and arithmetic. These schools must be scattered over every sec- 
tion of the State, for in them education must be commenced, and in them 
it will terminate as to more than one-half of the community. They will 
be the most difficult of organization and the most expensive to the State; 
but they will be the most useful, inasmuch as all the citizens will be 
taught in them, and many of the children are destined never to pass to 
any other." 

No action was taken at this session of the Legislature, and Judge Mur- 
phey was made chairman of a committee to investigate the subject 
more fully and report at the next session. He was much interested in 
this subject, and before submitting his report in 1817 he not only made 
a careful study of education in the New England States, but also visited 
Europe to examine the Continental school systems. The result of his 
study and observations are embodied in the report of the committee, a 
voluminous but well-written and eminently suggestive document. 

A comparison with the reports as published in the records of the Gen. 
eral Assembly for 1816 and 1817 shows that their main provisions are 
excellently summarized in the following extract from the admirable his- 
torical sketch of the North Carolina State school system in the Keport 
of the Commissioner of Education (U. S.) for 1876: 

" The report (of 1816) went on to suggest that from the youth edu- 
cated in these schools at State expense teachers should be selected for 
schools in which they might be qualified to teach, and that discreet per- 
sons should be appointed in each county to superintend and manage 
the concerns of the sectional schools which should be established, to 
designate the children who should be educated in whole or in part at 
the public expense, and to apply the funds which should be conse- 
crated to the purposes of these schools. It closed with a recommenda- 
tion that the two houses should appoint three persons to digest a sys- 
tem of public instruction, founded upon the general principles which 
had been^ stated, and to submit the same to the next General Assembly. 

" The house concurring with the senate on this motion, a committee 
was appointed, with the same gentleman as chairman, which made an 
elaborate report at the session of 1817. This new report recommended 
the formation of a fund for public instruction, and the constitution of a 
board to manage the fund and carry into execution the plan of public 
instruction contemplated. This plan was one which was meant l to make 
the progress of education natural and easy,' beginning with primary 
schools, in which the first rudiments of learning were to be taught, and 
proceeding to academies, in which youth were to be instructed in lan- 
guages, ancient and modern history, mathematics, and other branches 
of science, preparatory to entering the University, in which instruction 
phould be given in all the iii^er branches of tlie sciences and the prij^ 



166 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

ciples of the useful arts. An institution for the deaf and dumb was 
also iucluded in the plan. 

" For the elementary instruction to be given it was proposed to divide 
each county in the State into two or more townships, and to have one 
or more primary schools established in each township, which should 
provide a lot of ground of not less than four acres 5 and erect thereon a 
sufficient house, and vest it in the board of public instruction. For 
secondary training this board was to divide the State into ten aca- 
demic districts and have an academy erected in each district ; the State 
to meet one-third of the expense of the erection and the site, and furnish 
one-third of the sum required for salaries of teachers, on condition of 
their instructing a certain number of poor children free of charge. As 
to the superior instruction which was meant to crown the whole, the 
Legislature was urged to provide the needed funds for sustaining and 
carrying forward the then struggling University. For knitting the 
whole together came the board of public instruction to be constituted, 
which was to consist of the Governor of the State as president, and six 
directors, to be appointed by the General Assembly. This board was 
to have power to locate the several academies to be established ; to de- 
termine the number and titles of the professorships therein ; to exam- 
ine, appoint, and regulate the compensation of the professors and the 
teachers ; to appoint, in the first instance, the trustees ; to prescribe the 
course of instruction and discipline according to the general rules which 
should be first fixed by law ; and to provide some just mode of advanc- 
ing from the primary schools to the academies, and from the academies 
to the University, as many of the most meritorious children educated at 
the public expense as the proceeds of the funds for public instruction 
should suffice to maintain and educate." 

The writer just quoted adds that " No better, more compact, or more 
connected scheme for the formation of a State system of instruction 
could well have been devised at that quite early day. The main fault 
in it was that it undertook too much, viz, to 'maintain' as well as 
'educate' the children of the poor — an undertaking quite beyond the 
means of a State yet sparsely settled, and with the burdens of a recent 
war still weighing on the people. It was the expense which this por- 
tion of the plan involved that seems to have killed the project, for 
though the bill met with favor from the Legislature, was ordered to be 
printed, and put into a form for passage, the consideration of the large 
sums it would annually require to carry out its liberal provisions in- 
duced a pause, and that pause was fatal to it. Instead of eliminating 
from it the one specially impracticable feature and trying to work out 
the practicable ones, its advocates desired and urged its passage as a 
whole, and so friends fell from it and it failed." 

PROVISION FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

No further legislative action was taken on this question till 1825. In 
that year " a fund for the establishment of common schools n was estab- 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 167 

lislied by the General Assembly u consisting of the dividends arising 
from the stocks then held or afterwards acquired by the State in the 
banks of New Berne and Cape Fear, the dividends arising from the 
stocks owned by the State in the Cape Fear Navigation Company, the 
Roanoke Navigation Company, and the Clubfoot and Harlowe's Creek 
Canal Company, the tax imposed by law on license to retailers of spirit- 
uous liquors and auctioneers, the unexpended balance of the agricul- 
tural fund, all moneys paid to the State for entries of vacant lands, and 
all the vacant and unappropriated swamp lands of the State, together 
with such sums of money as the Legislature may hereafter find it con- 
venient to appropriate from time to time." 

Hon. S. M. Finger, superintendent of public instruction of North 
Carolina, in a recent address on public education said : 

" From those sources it might seem that a large fund would soon have 
been accumulated, but the generosity of the State as shown by act of 
Assembly, at Fayetteville, 1789, cut off what, under the above-recited 
provision, would soon have yielded a magnificent school fund. I refer 
to the act ceding to the United States all her territory now included in 
the great State of Tennessee. I recite the preamble giving the reasons 
for the cession of this magnificent domain, and as indicative of the 
character of our people at that early date. 

" < Whereas the United States in Con gress assembled have repeatedly 
and earnestly recommended to the respective States, owning or claim- 
ing western territory to make cession of part of the same as a further 
means, as well of hastening the extinguishment of the debts, as of estab- 
lishing the harmony of the United States; and the inhabitants of the 
said western territory being also desirous that such cession should be 
made in order to obtain a more ample protection than they have here- 
tofore received. Now this State being ever desirous of doing ample 
justice to the public creditors, as well as establishing the harmony of 
the United States and complying with the xeasonable desires of her 
citizens : 

u 4 Be it enacted, etc? The act goes on to recite the manner of making 
the deed, and various conditions of the grant, among which is this : 

a i Provided, always, That no regulations made or to be made by Con- 
gress shall tend to emancipate slaves.' 

" The deed was made February, 1790, for the reason stated in the pre- 
amble above recited, and the grant was accepted by Congress on the 
2d day of April of that j r ear. Thus it was that North Carolina parted 
with this valuable domain, because Congress requested it to be done as 
a means of paying the public debt, which had been incurred by the thir- 
teen original States in their common struggle for independence. Thus 
it was that North Carolina surrendered what would have yielded her a 
magnificent school fund, under such legislation as that of 1825, above 
recited. This action on the part of North Carolina was in marked con- 
trast with the action of Connecticut in reference to her public lands. 



168 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

Connecticut, instead of contributing her public lands to the payment of 
the common debt of the country, held her i western reserve* 1 for her own 
uses and from it laid the foundation of her school fund." 

The following State officials were appointed to manage the school 
fund: the Governor, the chief justice of the supreme court, the speaker 
of the senate, the speaker of the house, and the State treasurer, with 
their successors in office. These were constituted a body corporate and 
politic under the title of " The president and directors of the literary 
fund." They were empowered to hold property, and to dispose of and 
improve the same, for the promotion of learning and the instruction of 
youth. In 1836 the constitution of the board was changed, and it was 
made to consist of the Governor and three others to be appointed by 
him biennially. 

In 1837 the literary fund was largely augmented by the transfer of 
$1,433,757 by the General Government to North Carolina, being this 
State's share of the surplus deposit fund. That sum, less $300,000, w r as 
added to the literary fund, increasing this fund to more than $2,000,000. 
The Legislature of that year directed the president and directors of the 
literary fund to digest a plan for common schools suited to the condition 
and resources of the State, and to report the same at the next session of 
the General Assembly. The State was now ready to carry out the 
educational provisions of the Constitution, and to inaugurate a system 
of common schools which would, to some extent, meet the needs and 
requirements of the people. 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS ESTABLISHED. 

On December 4, 1838, the president and directors of the literary fund 
made their report to the General Assembly in accordance with the res- 
olution which was passed by that body at its previous session. The 
principal provisions of this report and the workings of the system before 
the late Civil War are thus given in the Eeport of the Commissioaer of 
Education (IT. S.) for 1876 : " It proposed to have the State divided into 
1,250 school districts, each to have a school-house erected in it, as 
pleasantly situated and as neat and commodious as possible; to have a 
normal department organized in the State University for the training of 
teachers for the schools ; to have the income of the literary fund, amount- 
ing then to about $100,000 annually, distributed among the districts at 
the rate of about $240 for each, to aid in the maintenance of schools, and 
to be supplemented by a local tax of twice that amount, levied by the 
county court; and, fiually, to have five superintendents of schools for 
each county and three committee-men for each school district. The 
scheme provided only for common schools, and left academies to succeed 
these at no long interval, and colleges and universities in due time to 
crown the whole. 

" The adoption or rejection of this system it was proposed to submit 
tQ 3- vote of the people; and on ^he 8th of January, 1S39, a little jnorp 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 169 

than one month after the submission of the report, the Legislature, un- 
der the lead of Mr. W. W. Cherry, chairman of the committee on edu- 
cation, passed an act to divide the State into school districts, six miles 
square, and to refer to the people the question of the establishment and 
maintenance of schools in these. The establishment of a school for 
teachers was passed by. In counties where the vote should be in favor 
of common schools the county court was to select five superintendents 
for the county, whose first duty was to divide the county into school dis- 
tricts, for each of which three committee-men were to be" chosen i to as- 
sist the superintendents in all matters pertaining to the establishment 
of schools' within their districts. The court was also to see to the levy- 
ing of a tax sufficient to build a school-house for fifty scholars in each 
district, and the further tax above referred to for meeting the State al- 
lowance to each school, which tax, however, most mistakenly was cut 
down in 1844 to one-fourth of what had been recommended. 

" Nearly every county in the State voted for the schools and the school- 
tax proposed, and at the next session of the Legislature in 1840, a law 
embodying the main features of the report was passed, and the new 
school system was at once set in operation. It was modified somewhat 
in 1844, especially by an allowance of an increase of the school districts, 
diminishing, in proportion to that increase, the amount of school money 
to be paid to each, and also, by express allowance, the amount of local 
tax to be collected. In 1852 a State superintendent was appointed, 
The census oi 1850 gave the number of schools as 2,657 ; of teachers. 
2,730; of pupils, 104,095; the income being $158,564, most of it from 
local taxes and from public funds. In 1860 there was a slight advance 
upon these figures as to schools, teachers, and pupils, and an increase 
of the income to $268,719, the greater part still from taxation in the 
counties and from the income of the literary fund." 

In order that the reader may have an idea of the progress of educa- 
tion in North Carolina during the twenty years preceding the War the' 
following school statistics of the census of 1840 are given. It must be 
remembered that the common-school system had not gone into opera- 
tion at this time. In 1840 there were 2 colleges (including the Univer- 
sity), 141 academies and grammar schools, 632 primary and common 
(county) schools, making a total of 77ft educational institutions. The 
number of students in attendance was as follows : at colleges, 158 ; at 
academies, 4,398; at other schools, 14,937; making a total of 19,483. 

The following comparative statistics are gathered from an article in 
the North Carolina Journal of Education of February, 1858, prepared 
by Eev. Calvin H. Wiley, D. D., superintendent of common schools. 

The average length of the schools of Maine at that time was four 
months and three weeks; of New Hampshire, five months; of North 
Carolina, four months, Maine and New Hampshire distributed about 
70 cents per capita for white population j Connecticut a^d Pennsylvania, 
fibout ffi cents • Jfew Yorlc ami 0!nq ? a^out f 1 ; YJrkfjjja. a^qut § ef nt§ i 



170 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

North Carolina about 50 cents. North Carolina bad a larger school 
fond than Maine or New Jersey (by $1,500,000), or Maryland or Vir- 
ginia (by $000,000), or Massachusetts (by $500,000), or Georgia (by 
61,700,000). North Carolina and Georgia were about equal in white 
population, yet the former had 2,000 more common schools than the 
latter, more than 100 more academies, and as many colleges. North 
Carolina had more colleges than South Carolina, more academies by 100, 
and nearly three times as many children at school. Virginia had 340,000 
white population more than North Carolina, yet the latter had as many 
colleges, as many academies, and 500 or 600 public schools more than 
Virginia. Kentucky had 200,000 white population more than North 
Carolina, yet the latter had as many colleges as the former, as many 
academies, more common schools by 1,000, and as many children at 
school. The same is substantially true in the comparison between 
Tennessee and North Carolina. It should also be remembered that at 
that time North Carolina had but few towns of any consequence and no 
large cities. 

Dr. Wiley, after stating the above facts, adds : " Upon a calm review 
of the entire facts, it is neither immodest nor unjust to assert that North 
Carolina is clearly ahead of all the slave-holding States with her system 
of public instruction, while she compares favorably in several respects 
with some of the New England and North-western States." 

The public-school system had reached its highest efficiency at the 
outbreak of the War. As a result of that conflict the permanent school 
fund was almost entirely destroyed, and the public schools were closed 
until about 1870. 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS SINCE THE WAR. 

The War not only swept away the school fund, but at the same time 
left the country impoverished. The freeing of the negro added largely 
to the school population of the State and increased the difficulty of the 
educational problem. The negroes numbered about three-eighths of the 
whole population. Major Finger, in the address before referred to, 
said : 

u The problem then was how. the five-eighths, impoverished as they 
were, owning all the lands, but essentially nothing but the lands, could 
educate themselves and also the three eighths of paupers recently made 
citizens. I do not think that any civilized people ever had thrust upon 
them a more difficult problem than the South had, for it applied to the 
whole South, in the formation of safe political society out of such ma- 
terial. Of course, general education was seen to be a necessity. Our 
people, recognizing the necessity, with that wonderful adaptability 
which characterizes them, did not fold their hands in tame submission 
to what seemed to many inevitable political, social, and material de- 
struction, but they went earnestly to work to educate." 

In the State Constitution which was adopted in 186S f it was provided 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 171 

that < 4 The General Assembly at its first session under this Constitution 
shall provide by taxation and otherwise, for a general and uniform sys- 
tem of public schools, wherein tuition shall be free of charge to all the 
children of the State between the ages of six and twenty-one years." 
The Constitution, as it now stands, contains, among others, the follow- 
ing provisions relating to public education : u The General Assembly 
shall levy a capitation tax on every male inhabitant in the State, over 
twenty-one and under fifty years of age, which shall be equal on each 
to the tax on property value at $300 in cash. 

" The proceeds of the State and county capitation tax shall be applied 
to the purposes of education and the support of the poor, but in no one 
year shall more than 25 per cent, thereof be applied to the latter pur. 
pose. 

" Each county in the State shall be divided into a convenient num- 
ber of districts, in which one or more public schools shall be maintained, 
at least, four months in every year -, and if the commissioners of any 
county shall fail to comply with aforesaid requirments of this section 
they shall be liable to indictment. 

4i The proceeds of all lands that have been or hereafter may be 
granted by the United States to this State, and not otherwise appropri- 
ated by this State or by the United States ; also all moneys, stocks, 
bonds, and other property, now belonging to any State fund for pur- 
poses of education ; also the net proceeds of all sales of swamp lands 
belonging to the State, and other grants, gifts, or devises that have been 
or hereafter may be made to the State, and not otherwise appropriated 
by the State, or by the term of the grant, gift, or devise, shall be paid 
into the State treasury ; and, together with so much of the ordinary reve- 
nue of the State as may be by law set apart for that purpose, shall be 
faithfully appropriated for establishing and maintaining in this State 
a system of free public schools, and for no other uses or purposes what- 
soever.' 7 . 

It is also provided in the Constitution that the clear proceeds of all 
penalties and forfeitures and of all fines collected in the several coun- 
ties for any breach of the penal or military laws of the State shall be 
appropriated in the respective counties for maintaining free public 
schools. 

The above provisions are the basis of the present system of public 
schools. The expenses of these schools are met, for the most part, by 
the taxation on polls and property. The State board of education holds 
about 1,000,000 acres of swamp lands, but there is not much prospect 
that these will be a source of income for many years yet. Before the 
War some $200,000 were expended in attempts to drain them, but with- 
out success. The State has no large fund for educational purposes, and 
what has been done for schools since the War has been accomplished 
mainly by taxation, and unless the General Government comes to the 
assistance of the States, and distributes the surplus so rapidly accumii- 



172 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

lating iii the treasury, the people must still rely upon their own efforts 
for the farther promotion of public education. 

As has been stated, the public schools were re-opened in 1870, and 
though they have not yet reached any marked degree of efficiency, yet 
there has been steady improvement: since that time. The disburse- 
ments for these schools have been as follows: In 1871, $177,497.94 ; in 
1872, $173,275.62 j in 1873, $196,675.07; in 1874, $297,090.85; in 1875, 
no report, about the same as in 1874; in 1876, $334,163.14; in 1877, 
$319,813; in 1878, $324,827.10; in 1879, $326,040.35; in 1880, $352,- 
882.65; in 1881, $409,658.88; in 1882, $509,736.02 ; in 1883, $623,430.98; 
in 3884, $640,245.20; in 1885, $630,552.32. 

The following statistics 1 for 1886 will give an idea of the present status 
of public schools : Number of public school-houses for whites 3,443; for 
colored, 1,592 ; total, 5,035 ; value of public-school property for whites, 
$449,824.60; for colored, $203,281.79; total, $653,106.39; number of pub- 
lic schools taught, for whites, 4,115; for colored, 2,223; total, 6,338; 
average length of school terms, for whites, llf weeks ; for colored, 12 
weeks ; enrollment of whites, 188,036 ; of colored, 117,562 ; total, 305,598; 
average attendance of whites, 117,121 ; of colored, 68,585 ; total, 185,706 ; 
average salary of public-school teachers per month, white, $25.05 ; col- 
ored, $22.52J. 

The following is a summary of the receipts for public schools in 1886 : 
Poll-tax, $253,261.49; property tax, $258,799.85; special poll-tax, 
$7,110.48 ; special property tax, $20,618.83 ; special poll-tax under local 
acts, $1,184.98; special property tax under local acts, $6,820.17; fines, 
forfeitures, and penalties, $22,876.22; liquor licenses, $83,002.75; auc- 
tioneers, $32.66; estrays, $14.38; other sources, $16,950.60; making 
the total receipts for the year, $670,672.41. Funds which came in after- 
wards increased this total to $671,115.65. The amount expended in 1887 
was $653,037.33. 

Major Finger says that "the General Assembly now levies a tax of 
12J cents on every $100 of property and 37 J cents on each poll for 
schools; and at least 75 per cent, of all other poll-taxes, whether levied 
in the revenue law or by the county commissioners, must be appropri- 
ated for schools. All these moneys so appropriated are collected by the 
sheriffs of the respective counties, and by them turned over to the 
county school officers. If the fund accumulated in each county is not 
sufficient to maintain schools for a period of four months the statute 
requires the county commissioners, in accordance with the provision of 
the Constitution above cited, to levy a special tax for that purpose. Our 
supreme court has recently decided in the case of Barksdale i'S. Commis- 
sioners of Sampson County that this requirement is constitutional only 
within the limits of 66g cents on property and $2 on the poll, but that 

1 Gathered from report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of North Carta 
Una, for !.885~RB ; 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 173 

special taxes for special purposes under special acts of Assembly are not 
to be included." 

Many of the larger towns, under special acts of the Legislature, have 
excellent graded schools, each employing from six to fourteen teachers. 
In 1886 there were seventeen of these schools in the State. They are 
supported principally by voluntary taxation. 

According to the school census for 1886 the total number of children 
in the State of school age (between the ages of six and twenty-one 
years) was 547,308; of these there were 338,059 white and 209,249 col- 
ored children. The total enrollment at the public schools was 305,598; 
at private schools, about 30,000. When it is taken into consideration 
that many of the younger children of school age do not attend school 
and many stop their education before the age of twenty-one, it will ap- 
pear that a large proportion of the children are in school. 

PEABODY FUND. 

North Carolina has received large benefactions from the Peabody 
Fund, which have been appropriated to public, normal, and graded 
schools, and to the holders of the Peabody scholarships in the Nash- 
ville Normal College. This State has now fourteen scholarships at 
that institution, each yielding $200 per annum. Appointments are 
made for two years by the State superintendent of public instruction. 
Only those are appointed who expect to make teaching a profession, 
and who guarantee to teach at least two years in North Carolina. 

The appropriations from the Peabody Fund to this State, from 1868 
to 1887, inclusive, have been as follows : 1868, $2,700 ; 1869, $6,350 
1870, $7,650; 1871, $8,750; 1872, $8,250; 1873, $9,750; 1874, $14,300 
1875, $16,900; 1876, $8,050; 1877, $4,900; 1878, $4,500; 1879, $6,700 
1880, $3,050; 1881, $4,125; 1882, $6,485; 1883, $8,350; 1884, $6,075 
1885, $5,430; 1886, $5,500; 1887, $5,500— making a total of $143,315. 
This noble charity has been of great advantage to the State. 

PRESENT PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM. 

The Constitution provides for a " State board of education," consist- 
ing of the following State officials, viz : Governor, secretary of state, 
treasurer, auditor, attorney-general, and superintendent of public in- 
struction. This board has full power to legislate in relation to free pub- 
lic schools and the State educational fund. Any action which it may 
take, however, is subject to change or amendment by the General As- 
sembly. The superintendent of public instruction is the head of the 
system of public schools, and has general supervision in their manage- 
ment. 1 

1 State superintendents. —The first superintendent of common schools was the Rev. 
Calvin H. Wiley, D. D. , 1852-65. While occupying this position he prepared a lc North 
Carolina Reader," giving the history of each county in the State, with an account of 
the soil, climate, etc. It also contained selections from the writings and public ad- 



174 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

Each county has a county board of education and a county superin- 
tendent of education. The county board consists of three men, elected 
biennially by the commissioners and justices of the peace of the county. 
This board has the general management of the public schools in the 
county and lays off the school districts, the convenience of each neigh- 
borhood being consulted in the division. In each of these districts 
there is a school committee, consisting of three persons, whose duty 
it is to provide school- houses, employ teachers and give orders for the 
payment of the sums due for their services, and take at a stated period 
a census of the children within the school age. The compensation of 
teachers of the first grade is left to the committee ; teachers of the sec- 
ond grade receive $25. and those of the third grade $15 per month. The 
schools for the two races are separate. The school districts for the two 
races may be the same in territorial limits or not, according to the con- 
venience of the parties concerned. Major Finger says that ''these dis- 
tricts are irregular in size, but not many of them contain an area of 
more than 4 miles square, and many are much smaller, so that, except 
n the very sparsely populated sections of the State, there is annually a 
school in easy reach of every child." 

The county superintendent is elected by the county board of educa- 
tion, the county commissioners, and the justices of the peace, for a 
term of two years. The county superintendent has the general over- 
sight of the schools in his county, and examines all applicants for posi- 
tions as teachers. The census reports and school statistics are reported 
to him by the district committees, and he makes an annual report to 
the State superintendent of public instruction. His salary is decided 
by the county board, but is not to be less than $2 nor more than $3 per 
day for the time in which he is necessarily engaged in the discharge of 
his duties, provided his salary shall not exceed 4 per cent, of the school 
fund apportioned in the county. 

The studies required by law to be taught in the public schools are 
spelling, defining, reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, geog- 
raphy, elementary physiology and hygiene, and the history of North 
Carolina and of the United States. 

NORMAL INSTRUCTION. 

In 1885, in accordance with the Constitution of the State, the General 
Assembly established a u normal department" in the University of 
North Carolina, which is open to young men preparing to teach, free of 
tuition, on condition that they sign a pledge to teach at least one year 
after leaving the institution. 

dresses of eminent North Carolinians. It is an excellent work, and before the 
War was used in the public schools. On the reconstruction of the system in 1870, 
under the law of April 12, 1869, the Eev. S. S. Ashley was made Stcte superintendent, 
1870-72. His successors have been Alexander Mclver, 1873-75 : Stephen D. Pool, 
1875-77 ; John C. Scarborough, 1877-85; Sidney M. Finger, 1835-. 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 175 

There are now in the State eight normal schools for the whites and 
five for the negroes. 

In 1876 the Legislature established the University Normal School for 
the whites and the Fayetteville State Normal for the negroes, making 
an annual appropriation for each of $2,000. In 1S81 four additional 
normal schools for each race were established, each school receiving an 
annual appropriation of $500. In 1885 the University Normal was dis- 
continued, and the annual appropriation of $2,000 which this school 
had formerly received was divided equally between four white normal 
schools which were established at that time. In 1887 an additional ap- 
propriation of $1,000 was made to each of the four colored normals which 
were established in 1881, making the total appropriation to each $1,500. 
The annual appropriations for the white normals amount to $4,000, and 
the annual appropriations for the colored normals amount to $8,000. 

The normals for the whites are in the nature of teachers* institutes, 
and are held annually at convenient points in the State for a period of 
one month. As these are held in the summer, during the vacation of 
the other schools, the best teachers in the State are secured to teach in 
them, as well as noted teachers from other States. 

The colored normals are established at fixed points and are regularly 
in session eight or nine months during the year. They annually supply 
a large number of teachers for the colored schools. 
- The statutes of the State provide for county teachers' institutes for 
both races; many of the counties hold them one or two weeks during 
each summer. The State superintendent of public instruction says 
that these normal schools and county institutes have had a fine effect 
in elevating the standard of common-school teachers.' 

FEDERAL AID. 

The State has a well-appointed system of public instruction, but is 
hampered on every hand by want of funds. The financial condition of 
the people does not warrant an increase of taxation sufficient to meet 
the educational needs of the State. When it is remembered that the 
white population bears the burden of taxation not only for their own 
children but also for those of the negro race, it can be seen how onerous 
is this charge. 

Superintendent Finger makes an earnest appeal for national aid to 
education. He says: 

a The State has done well in the revival of her public schools, and she 
will continue to struggle on, carrying her burden, earnestly looking for- 
ward to the time when the Congress of the United States will open the 
doors of the Treasury and extend aid. North Carolina and other South- 
ern States gave to the United States vast domains which were used to 
pay a common debt, a debt of the original thirteen States, and in the 
course of events it turns out that the United States frees the slaves of 



1 In addition to the public schools, the State makes excellent provision for the edu- 
cation of the deaf, dumb, and blind of both races. 



176 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

the South, and makes them citizens and voters while in a condition of 
extreme ignorance. Twenty-two years have elapsed since the close of 
the War; almost another generation has been raised up since the South 
laid down her arms ; it is too late to look back now and engage in crim- 
iuation and recrimation; it is surely time for the United States to lend 

a helping hand to the South in carrying her burden. 

* # # * # # # 

"Surely the Government that could find warrant in the Constitution 
to free the negroes and make them citizens can also find authority to dis- 
tribute from its overflowing Treasury funds to educate them for the 
proper discharge of the duties of freemen and citizens." 




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CHAPTER X. 

THE NORTH CAROLINA TEACHERS' ASSEMBLY. 

HISTORY AND INFLUENCE OF THE ORGANIZATION. 

In studying the present dynamics of education in North Carolina the 
writer has observed no one force more powerful for good than the North 
Carolina Teachers' Assembly, which, in the opinion of the State super- 
intendent of public instruction, is doing more to further the educational 
advancement of the State than all other agencies combined. 

This organization was originated by that earnest and progressive 
friend of education, Eugene G-. Harrell, editor of The North Carolina 
Teacher. He conceived the idea in August, 1883, and it at once be- 
came popular throughout the State. Owing to his wise and energetic 
management the movement has been a success from the first, and 
through its agency, the teachers of the State have been brought into 
closer relations than ever before. It bids fair to revolutionize the 
school system of the State, or rather to systematize the schools, for it is 
a misnomer to speak of a school system as existing in North Carolina. 

The first session of the Assembly was held in June, 1884, at the Hay- 
wood White Sulphur Springs, one of the favorite resorts in "the land 
of the sky," that part of our country so beautifully pictured by Miss 
Fisher (Christian Reid). The next two annual sessions were held at 
Black Mountain, some 7 miles from the famous Mount Mitchell, the 
highest peak east of the Rockies. 

The last session convened at Morehead City, on the Atlantic coast, 
one of the most popular of Southern watering places. The presidents, 
elected annually, have been as follows : 1884, Prof. J. J. Fray, of the 
Raleigh Male Academy, whose death the State mourned before the close 
of that year; 1885, Dr. R. H. Lewis, of Kinston College ; and 1886 and 
1887, Professor E. A. Alderman, of the Goldsborough Graded and High 
School. Mr. Harrell has been unanimously continued as secretary since 
the organization. The growing interest is manifested by the attend- 
ance, which, for the four sessions of its history, has been as follows : 
305, 620, 720, and 1,765. The present membership numbers about 3,000, 
and includes teachers from every known educational institution in the 
State. All teachers, and all friends of education who are recommended 
by the county superintendents of public schools, are eligible for mem- 
bership. The annual dues are $2 for males and $1 for females. 

177 
17037— No. 2—12 



178 HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

The exercises of the Assembly consist in the discussion of educational 
topics at the day sessions by the members, and lectures in the evening 
by distinguished educators of this and other States who are especially 
engaged for this purpose. Sometimes, in place of the lecture, a musical 
and literary entertainment is substituted. After the lecture or enter- 
tainment there is usually a dance for the benefit of those who enjoy 
that pastime. At both the mountain and seaside sessions many little 
excursions for pleasure and recreation are made. The close of the ses- 
sion is generally marked by a grand excursion. At the close of the last 
session the teachers made a trip to Baltimore and Washington, where 
they were tendered a special reception by President Cleveland. Atrip 
to New York, Niagara Falls, and other points of interest has already 
been planned for the coming year. These trips are always mapped out 
with wise forethought and are made both pleasant and profitable. 

The Assembly has been permanently established at Morehead City, 
and an " Assembly building" is now being erected, at a cost of $2,750, 
the funds for this purpose having been given by a few friends of the 
organization ; Mr. Julian S. Carr, of Durham, who has endeared himself 
to the people of his State by many noble benefactions to education, 
alone giving $1,750 of the amount. The building when completed 
will be a handsome, two-storied structure. The following description 
of it is taken from the North Carolina Teacher for October, 1887: 
" The hall is on the second floor, 40 by 80 feet, 15 feet pitch, well lighted 
and ventilated. On the same floor is the secretary's office, and the 
reading-room and library, each 15 by 18 feet. The first floor has a 
passage 10 feet wide, the entire length of the building, and on either 
side are four rooms, each 15 by 18 feet. These rooms include special 
ones for teachers 7 bureau, visiting editors, parlor, office, and commit- 
tees ; the others are to be used for an educational exposition, exhibit- 
ing all classes of school furniture and conveniences for educational 
work. 

u The Assembly hall will be seated with folding settees, and well fur- 
nished with globes, maps, charts, slate blackboards, and everything 
needed in our assembly work, and it will not be long before the teach- 
ers of North Carolina will have not only the most pleasant place in the 
South for an annual gathering, but will also have one of the best assem- 
bly rooms to be found in America." 

The officers of the Assembly are making arrangements for a park, 
embracing 50 acres of land, on Bogue Sound, about 5 miles from 
Morehead City, aud will run a small steamer regularly between those 
places for the pleasure of the members. 

The teachers of North Carolina now have a delightful summer home 
for rest, recuperation, and enjoyment, of which they may well be proud. 

Through the influence of the Assembly, " reading circles," with a 
prescribed course of reading, and local " teachers' councils," are being 



NORTH CAROLINA TEACHERS' ASSEMBLY 179 

established throughout the State. The organization has been well 
termed " The North Carolina Chautauqua." 

IN CONCLUSION. 

Never iu North Carolina was the educational outlook brighter than 
at present. Since the revival of the University iu 1875 there has been 
manifest progress in every department of education. The public schools 
have been made more efficient; the graded school system has been in- 
troduced in the principal towns ; the endowments of several of the de- 
nominational colleges have been largely increased, their curricula made 
more thorough, and their standard of graduation raised; normal schools 
and teachers^ institutes are conducted at convenient points, the State 
and counties making provision for their maintenance; and at the last 
session of the Legislature (1886-87) provision was made for the imme- 
diate establishment of a college of agriculture and the mechanic arts, 
to which the State, besides granting the interest from the land-scrip 
fund, amounting to $7,500 per annum, guarantees a liberal income 
from certain specified taxes. All the young men of the State who can 
successfully pass the entrance examination will receive free tuition. 
This college has been established at Raleigh, and it is expected that 
the work of instruction will begin in the fall of 1889. The interest 
now so manifest in all that pertains to the intellectual advancement 
of the Old North State promises grand results for the future. 



APPENDIX. 

List of the PrincipxYL Works Consulted in the Preparation of this Mon- 
ograph. 

[Note. — Those sources from which the writer has derived the greatest help — personal 
interviews with those who are or have been prominent in the educational work in 
the State, correspondence, pamphlets, newspaper articles, school catalogues, etc. — it 
would be impossible to enumerate here. He would, however, make special acknowl- 
edgment to Rev. J. Rumple, D. D., for information concerning the early Presbyterian 
schools; to President Kemp P. Battle, LL. D., forassistance in collecting materials 
lor the sketch of the University; to Rev. Charles Phillips, D. D., for many important 
facts relating to education previous to the late War; to Hon. S. M. Finger, for statis- 
tics of the public schools ; and to Hon. William L. Saunders, for advance sheets of the 
first four volumes (1682-1754) of the Colonial Records, and other favors.] 

Colonial Records of North Carolina. Edited by Hon. William L. Saunders, Raleigh. 

History of Carolina. By John Lawson, Gent., surveyor-general of North Carolina. 
London, 1714; Raleigh, 1860. 

The Natural History of North Carolina. With an account of the trade, manners, and 
customs of the Christian and Indian inhabitants. By John Brickell. Dublin, 1737. 

History of North Carolina. Two vols. By Hugh Williamson. Philadelphia, 1812. 

History of North Carolina. Two vols. By F. X. Martin. New Orleans, 1829. 

History of North Carolina. Two vols. By J. H. Wheeler. Philadelphia, 1851. 

History of North Carolina (1584-1729).' Two vols. By F. L. Hawks. Fayetteville, 
N. C., 1857. 

History of North Carolina. Two vols. By J. W. Moore. Raleigh, 1880. 

Sketches of North Carolina. By W. H. Foote. New York, 1846. 

History of the Moravians in North Carolina. By L. S. Reichel. Salem, N. C, 1857. 

History of the German Settlements in North Carolina. By G. D. Bernheim. Philadel- 
phia, 1872. 

Eastern North Carolina. By L. C. Vass. Richmond, Va., 1886. 

The Old North State m 1776. By E. W. Caruthers. Philadelphia, 1854. 

History of Rowan County. By J. Rumple. Salisbury, N. C, 1881. 

Sketches of Western North Carolina. By C. L. Hunter. Raleigh, 1877. 

Reminiscences and Memoirs of North Carolina and Eminent North Carolinians. (Part 
III.) By J. H. Wheeler. Columbus, Ohio, 1884. 

North Carolina in the Colonial Period. By Daniel R. Goodloe, (Introduction to 
Wheeler's Reminiscences, Part III.) 

Life of Rev. David Caldwell. By E. W. Caruthers. Greensborough, N. C, 1842. 

Life of Macon. By Edward R. Cotton. Baltimore, 1840. 

Centennial of Methodism in North Carolina. By L. S. Burkhead. Raleigh, 1878. 

Princeton College daring the Eighteenth Century. (Biographical sketches of grad- 
uates.) By S. D. Alexander. New York, 1872. 

HUtory of the College of New jersey. Two Vols. Ey John Macleau. Philadelphia, 
1*77. 

De Bow's Industrial Resources of the South and West. New Orleans, 1852. 

Public Acts and Lavs of North Carolina. Beginning with Davis's Revisal. New- 
bern, 1752. 

Trustees 7 Journal of the University of North Carolina. (Manuscript.) 

The standard histories of the English Colonies in America and of the United States. 

180 



RIBUTIONS TO AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. 

EDITED BY HERBERT B. ADAMS, Ph. D. 



No. 1. 

THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 

By Herbert B. Adams. (Published 1887.) 

No. 2. 

THOMAS JEFFERSON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. 

By Herbert B. Adams. (Published 1888.) 

No. 3. 

HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA, 
By Charles L. Smith. (Published 1888.) 

No. 4. 

HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 

By C. Meriwether. (In Press.) 

No. 5. 

EDUCATION IN GEORGIA. 

By Charles Edgeworth Jones. (In Press.) 

No. «». 

EDUCATION IN FLORIDA. 
By George Gary Bush. (In Press. ) 



Monographs on other Stales in Preparation. 



E 'U 



